Pass El4Dj5 
Book •: 

CQECRIGKT DEPOSIT, 



THE 




CAMPAIGN OF GENERAL SCOTT, 

IN THE 

VALLEY OF MEXICO: 



B T 

LIEUT. RAPHAEL SEMES, U. S. N., 

LATE FLAG-LIEUTENANT OF THE HOME SQUADRON, AND AID -DE- CAMP OF MAJOR- 
GENERAL WORTH, IN THE BATTLES OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



OUrOHTHTATI : 
MOORE & ANDERSOX, PUBLISHERS, 

28 WEST FOURTH STREET. 

1 852. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 
MOORE & ANDERSON, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Ohio. 



C. A. MORGAN dz CO., 
BTEREOTYPERS AND PUBLISHERS, 

111 Main Street. 



PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



The position now occupied by General Scott, as candi- 
date for the highest office in the gift of the American 
people, invests every detail of his past life with renewed 
interest. Everything connected with his brilliant and glo- 
rious campaign in Mexico is sought for with avidity, and 
read with interest, by people of all parties. 

The Author of " Service Afloat and Ashore" was a 
participator in most of the exciting events connected with 
the Mexican war ; and the high encomiums of the press, 
and the fact that two editions have already been published, 
is sufficient evidence of the merit and interest of the work. 

In order to place that part of the work which, at this 
time, is particularly interesting, within reach of every one, 
the Publishers, in the absence of the Author, have con- 
cluded to omit a number of pages of introductory matter 
not directly connected with the campaign under Scott, 
and present, in a smaller volume, a full account of this 
brilliant and eventful campaign, from the bombardment 
of Vera Cruz to the capture of the city of Mexico, and 
the termination of the war. 



August 1, 1852. 



(3) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

IN THE 

VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



In June or July, 1846, soon after General Taylor had taken 
possession of Matamoros, and while he was organizing his force 
and collecting means of transportation for his movement into the 
interior, Commander McKenzie, of the navy, was dispatched to 
Cuba, on a secret mission ; the object of which has never been 
officially made known ; but from certain circumstances attending 
and following his visit, we are at no loss to conjecture it. The 
reader may recollect, that just previous to the breaking out of the 
war, General Santa Anna was stripped of his power, as president 
of the Mexican republic, and banished the country. He selected 
Cuba as the place of his exile, and established himself at a village 
called the Cerro, about three miles from Havana, where he became 
quite celebrated for the heavy game of monte, which he played, 
and for the excellent rules and arrangement of his cock-pit ! I 
happened to visit the Cerro about this time, and I heard frequent 
mention made of the excellence of the ex-president's cocks, and 
and of the skillful manner in which he heeled and handled them. 
General Campbell, our consul at Havana, was in the habit of 
visiting the fallen chieftain — and as on such occasions, the war 
between their respective countries became naturally a topic of 
conversation, General Santa Anna, apparently with much frank- 
ness, expressed himself, in one or more of these conversations, as 

(5) 



6 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



decidedly opposed to the war. Like a sensible man, as he was, 
he could not but see the folly, as well as hopelessness of such a 
struggle, on the part of his countrymen, and he took no pains to 
conceal his sentiments ; on the contrary, he seemed desirous to 
impress General Campbell with the belief that, if he were again 
at the head of affairs, he would speedily re-establish friendly 
2-elations between the two countries. As a matter of course, our 
government was made acquainted with these dispositions on the 
part of General Santa Anna. Commander McKenzie, who spoke 
the Spanish language like a native — and Santa Anna spoke no 
English — was sent, soon afterward, on his mission to Havana. 
What transpired we do not know, but Santa Anna, being recalled 
from his banishment about this time by the Mexican people, with 
the view of his being restored to power, and assuming the con- 
duct of the war, Commodore Conner was instructed not to molest 
him, should he desire to return to Mexico. Early in August, 
while the squadron was lying at anchor under Green Island, 
keeping watch and ward over the enemy's city and castle of Vera 
Cruz, the seaman on the look-out, at the mast-head of the St. 
Mary's, then cruising on the blockade, descried the smoke of a 
steamer. As this was not the regular day for the appearance of 
any of the English mail steamers — which had been permitted to 
pass in and out of the beleaguered port without question, the 
English government pledging itself for their faithful conduct as 
neutrals — the smoke of a steamer was a novelty, in this now 
lonely and deserted part of the Mexican gulf. The St. Mary's, in 
due time, placed herself in a position to intercept the stranger, in 
her approach to the city; and as the latter came up within hailing 
distance, she ordered her to " heave to," while a boat was being 
sent on board of her. The boat being in readiness in a few 
minutes, a lieutenant jumped into her, and with a few strokes of 
his oars from the sinewy arms of his seamen, placed himself along- 
side the steamer. The steamer being evidently a merchant vessel, 
the lieutenant was surprised to find himself received with much 
ceremony and courtesy, at the gangway. Making his way on 
deck, and explaining the object of his visit to the captain, he was 
conducted to the cabin, where he was ushered into the society of 
a circle of gentlemen, evidently Spaniards or Mexicans, from their 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



7 



olive complexions, black hair and eyes, and pointed and curled 
mustachios. It was obvious also, at the first glance, that most, 
if not all these gentlemen, although dressed in plain or citizens' 
clothes, were military men, and persons of bearing and distinc- 
tion. After a moment's pause, the captain, as though he had 
purposely prepared a surprise for the boarding officer, turned 
toward him, and making a graceful motion with his right hand, at 
the same Kme, in the direction of one of the gentlemen, who, 
though of the ordinary height and figure, seemed, by his com- 
manding air and manner, to be the chief of the party, said, 11 allow 
me to present you, sir, to General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna!'* 
The officer started back, at first, in a little surprise, but soon 
recovering himself, advanced cordially toward the General, and 
extending his hand, a mutual interchange of civilities took place. 
In a few moments, Senora Santa Anna (a second wife), a hand- 
some blonde, with deep blue eyes and auburn hair, and still in the 
bloom of early womanhood, joined the party, and was presented 
to the officer, who saluted her in turn, with becoming gallantry 
and respect. General Almonte, late minister to the United States, 
was also present as one of the General's suite ; and speaking our 
language well, acted as interpreter on the occasion. General Santa 
Anna having explained briefly who he was — although such expla- 
nation was entirely unnecessary — and that he purposed going into 
Vera Cruz, with the permission of the Commodore, the boarding 
officer, after sitting as long as courtesy required, and perhaps a 
little longer than a strict regard to duty permitted, in homage to 
the lady's charms — a petticoat being quite an unusual sight to us 
rough blockaders, about this time — withdrew to report " pro- 
gress," to his commanding officer, and to ask for orders in the 
novel case which had occurred. The commander, who had been 
prepared by the commodore for the contingency, forthwith dis- 
patched the boat back again, and directed the officer, at the same 
time, that he should present his compliments to General Santa 
Anna, to say to him, on the part of the commodore, that " he could 
proceed to Vera Cruz, with his suite, as he desired;'' whereupon, the 
steamer Arab shot boldly out from under the lee of the blockad- 
ing vessel, and in an hour or two more, landed her distinguished 
passenger, "big with the fate" of Mexico, safely in the desired 



8 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



haven. That night, the roar of cannon, and the bursting of rockets 
in the air, testified the joy of the fickle Yera Cruzanos at the 
return of their lost Coriolanus ; and it soon transpired, that the 
wily peace-maker, who had so handsomely duped our cabinet at 
Washington, had put himself at the head of the ultra war party, 
and proclaimed, in common with acting-President Salas, whom he 
hastened to join, "no quarter to the Yankees." Having spent a 
few days in Yera Cruz, to recover from the fatigues of the voyage, 
and in feasting, and belligerent speech-making, his excellency 
put himself en route for the capital. His journey thither, resem- 
bled a Roman ovation. He was met at all the principal points of 
the road, by committees of patriotic citizens, and by the military, 
and was escorted in triumph from city to city, until he reached 
the capital. Here he was formally installed president of the 
republic. Having proclaimed the federal constitution (which was 
one of the conditions of his recall) he immediately set himself to 
work, to organize a large military force, to be called the "Liberat- 
ing army." In the month of December, having obtained the 
requisite permission, he placed himself at the head of this army 
(under the Mexican constitution, the president cannot command 
an army in person, without the consent of congress) and trans- 
ferred his head-quarters to San Luis Potosi. It was already 
currently rumored in Mexico, that Yera Cruz was to be attacked 
by our forces, and that a campaign was to be undertaken, having 
for its object the capture of the city of Mexico. On the other 
hand, General Taylor had advanced as far as Saltillo, and threat- 
ened the republic from the north. As late as the middle of Janu- 
ary, 1847, General Santa Anna was undecided as to which of 
these invading columns he would oppose ; and it is stated on good 
authority — that of a distinguished Mexican officer, who has ably 
reviewed the campaign of Angostura (Buena Yista) in a pamphlet 
entitled " Rapida ojeada sobre la campana que hizo el General Santa 
Anna in el estado de Coahuila, el mes de Febrero proximo pas- 
add" — that he was finally induced to march against General 
Taylor, by having received secret intelligence, that there were two 
thousand Irishmen, in General Taylor's army, ready to abandon their 
colors and join him, upon the first gun 's being fired! It is well 
known that General Arista labored under a similar illusion, before 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



9 



he was beaten at Palo Alto, and Resaca de la Palma ; and it is 
asserted — by the same Mexican officer, above quoted — that Presi- 
dent Paredes was so firmly impressed with this belief, that he 
looked upon the triumphant defense of Matamoros as certain. At 
a later period of the war, we ascertained the means by which the 
Mexican generals had been deluded into such errors. Some of 
our Irish, and other foreign soldiers of the regular army — to the 
number of seventy or eighty — had, at various times, deserted and 
gone over to the enemy; by whom they had been received kindly, 
and organized into a separate corps, called the battalion of San 
Patricio — Saint Patrick. These ignorant and unprincipled men 
had filled the willing ears of their new allies, with wonderful stories 
of the want of organization and discipline in the American camp, 
and of the general disaffection of their countrymen ; a slander 
which was signally refuted afterward by the brave Irish, who 
proved themselves to be, in every battle that was fought, among 
our best and most trustworthy troops. In a future page, the reader 
will have the satisfaction of learning the manner, in which a just 
retribution overtook nearly every one of these unhappy deserters. 
As I have before remarked, it is not my purpose to describe the 
battle of Buena Vista, and I only allude to it here, that I may 
trace the principal events of the war, down to the commencement 
of the campaign of the " valley of Mexico;'' of which alone, it is 
my purpose to write. The strategic movements of both the gene- 
rals have been criticised by able military men in Mexico. They 
contend, that General Santa Anna marched from San Luis Potosi 
with undue haste, and without having given proper attention to 
the transport and collection, on the route, of provisions ; that when 
he arrived at Encarnacion, instead of marching, as he did, direct 
upon Agua JSTueva, a distance of fourteen leagues, without water, 
and putting his troops under the necessity of gaining a victory to 
quench their thirst, he should have flanked and turned his enemy, 
by taking, either the road on his left, passing through Santa Ellena 
and la Vaqueria, or that on his right, passing through Hedionda 
and Jaguey; either of which routes would have afforded him an 
abundant supply of water, forage for his horses, and more or less 
provisions for his troops ; and that his movement of throwing 
General Minon in the rear of General Taylor, with twelve hundred 



10 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



cavalry, although a good one, was rendered abortive from the 
insufficiency of the force. He is also found much fault with, for 
not renewing the battle on the 24th of February — he having still 
two days' rations in his camp, and being in the momentary expec- 
tation of receiving more. With regard to the tactics on the 
American side, it is asserted, that Agua Nueva is a much stronger 

7 7 O O 

defile, and could have been much more easily held, than Angos- 
tura (Buena Yista) and that, consequently, General Taylor com- 
mitted a great error in making the retrograde movement he did, 
especially in the face of the enemy; such movements having the 
bad effects of harassing and fatiguing troops on the eve of battle, 
and demoralizing them more or less. If the facts on which these 
criticisms are founded, be true — and they can only be judged of, 
by persons acquainted with the ground — the criticisms would 
seem to follow very naturally from the premises. 

The reason assigned by General Taylor for his movement was, 
that Agua ISTueva could be turned ; but so also, could Buena Vista ; 
as it was, in fact, turned by General Minon's cavalry, and on the 
evening of the 23d, by the enemy's infantry also ; which latter, 
however, from not having been properly supported, was afterward 
driven back. 

Santa Anna, without having been routed at Buena Yista, was 
nevertheless repulsed ; and failing to force General Taylor's position, 
failed to accomplish the object of his campaign. On the evening 
of the 23d of February, it would have been hard to say, which 
party had been beaten, since both had, at various times, given 
ground, and both remained on the field of battle, when night 
separated the combatants. If Santa Anna had been a man of 
General Taylor's courage and character, and had renewed the 
battle the next day, there is no telling what might have been the 
result. But manifesting the want of firmness, in this great battle, 
which he had before shown on so many occasions, he most unac- 
countably withdrew from the contest, and scampered off from his 
army, leaving it to its fate, as a greater captain had done, on a 
more memorable occasion — the retreat of Moscow. 

We may carry our comparison a little farther, between these two 
celebrated men ; they both made haste to return to their respective 
capitals, to quiet civil dissensions, which had arisen in their absence 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



11 



On the 26th of February, Sefior Gomez Farias, the vice-president, 
acting as president in the absence of General Santa Anna, having 
ordered the battalion of "Independence," some of the artillerists 
of the regiment of "Mina," and other regular corps, to proceed 
to Vera Cruz, to strengthen the garrison of that place, in antici- 
pation of our invasion, these troops refused to obey his orders ; 
and in combination with some others, under the leadership of 
General M alias de la Peiia Barragan, raised the standard of revolt. 
A pronunciomientOy and "plan" of government were issued, and 
the insurgents having seized upon some of the fortified points and 
churches of the city, set the government troops at defiance. 
There were, at that time, two parties in Mexico, the Polkos, or 
church party, and the Puros, or ultra-federalists (answering to 
our ultra -democratic party), who were in favor of seizing upon the 
church property, and confiscating it to the use of the state. The 
vice-president, Gomez Farias, was the leader of the latter party, 
and had attacked the church property with so much success, that 
he had obtained a decree from congress for the sale of a portion 
of it ; but he found it impossible to execute the law, as the officers 
would neither put up the property for sale as directed, nor would 
the people bid on it. Minds became very much exasperated on 
the question, and General Pedraza, undertaking the championship 
of the church, put himself at the head of the Polkos, and resolved 
to make an effort to get rid of Farias. The city was divided by 
the two parties, and kept in constant alarm and confusion, for the 
space of three weeks — the troops having occasional skirmishes — 
until the arrival of Santa Anna, on the 18th or 19th of March. 
This general, after having been beaten, as we have seen, had 
retired to San Luis Potosi, and thence made his way to the capital. 
He did not immediately enter the city, but, in imitation of the 
Roman conquerors, halted in one of the suburbs — Guadalupe 
Hidalgo — and notified the government of his presence. Three 
hundred lancers were forthwith dispatched to escort him to the 
palace ; and the congress, which was in session, hastened to appoint 
a committee to wait on him and administer anew, the presidential 
oath — he having been considered as temporarily divested of the 
presidency, while in command of the army. The next day he 
entered the city in great state, and was escorted, amid salvos of 



12 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



artillery, to tlie cathedral ; where a grand Te Deum was sung, in 
honor of the great victory of Angostura (Buena Yista). Grandilo- 
quent dispatches were published, setting forth the gallant exploits 
of the army, and decorations of honor were distributed to all the 
principal officers ! These glad tidings, and the strong arm of the 
successful chief, quieted the discontents of the Polkos, and restored 
order to the distracted capital. Long before the return of General 
Santa Anna to the city of Mexico, the news of his victory had 
reached Vera Cruz ; and we were astonished, one calm afternoon, 
as we lay quietly at our anchors, not dreaming of misfortune, to 
hear the heavy guns of the castle thunder forth a salute that 
shook the very sides of our ships, and reverberated for leagues 
along the shore, in honor of the event. We could not believe 
that we had been beaten, however ; and in a few days afterward, 
a small pilot-boat schooner from New Orleans, ran into the anchor- 
age, and brought us, in a New Orleans paper, the glorious news 
of the triumph of our arms. 

While these events were progressing, the navy was patiently 
and perseveringly performing its less glorious, but not less toil- 
some duties. Commodore Conner, by means of a system of intel- 
ligence, which he had recently established with the blockaded city, 
kept the government accurately informed of all the movements of 
the enemy ; of the discussions of his congress ; of the changes in 
his ministry ; of the levy and equipment of troops, etc. 

On the 1st of January, 1847, General Scott arrived at the 
Brazos, and began to collect his troops for the invasion. He had 
orders to withdraw from General Taylor's column, four thousand 
regulars ; and the ten new regiments, which had been recently 
voted by congress, were to be raised and sent forward to him with 
all dispatch. Toward the middle of February, having informed 
Commodore Conner by letter, that he had directed his transports 
to rendezvous at the small island of Lobos, about 120 miles N. 
W. of Vera Cruz, the commodore dispatched the sloop-of-war, 
St. Mary's, Commander Saunders, to this point, to show the vari- 
ous transports, as they should arrive, the way into a secure anchor- 
age, and when they were all assembled, to conduct them to Anton 
Lizardo. In the meantime, other ships, laden with surf-boats for 
the landing of troops, provisions, artillery, means of transporta- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



13 



tion, etc., began to arrive daily, direct from New York and other 
ports. Officers were detailed to pilot these vessels in, in like man- 
ner, regulate their anchoring, concert signals with them, etc. The 
surf-boats were launched and moored near us, fitted with oars, 
cables and anchors, and other preliminary arrangements were 
made to forward the contemplated descent, immediately upon the 
arrival of the general-in- chief. Our hitherto quiet head- quarters, 
in which we had stagnated all winter, became daily more ani- 
mated, until Anton Lizardo was crowded with a magnificent fleet 
of steamers and sail-vessels ; all bearing at their gaff-ends the 
proud flag of our republic, and giving the lookers-on, from the 
Mexican coast, presage of coming events — if presage had been 
wanted. General Scott arrived on the 6th of March, in the steam- 
ship Massachusetts. On the 7th, Commodore Conner, inviting 
him, with his staff, to accompany him in the steamer Petrita, they 
made, together, a reconnoissance of the city and castle, and coasts 
adjacent ; the enemy giving them a shot or two, in token of defi- 
ance. Two days afterward, such was the state of forwardness 
in which General Scott found things, the descent took place. As 
a matter of course, Commodore Conner had, for some time pre- 
vious, given his attention to the selection of a proper place for 
landing. There were several points where this might be effected ; 
but he wisely gave the preference to the smooth sand beach, 
abreast of the island of Sacrificios ; both because this was nearer 
the city, and because it was partially protected against the north- 
ers. In his letters to the government, he had recommended this 
place ; and General Scott, on his first reconnoissance, concurred in 
his views. 

The anchorage at Sacrificios being small, it would have been 
impossible to crowd all the transports that were loaded with 
troops, into it, at one time ; and therefore, it was resolved, on 
consultation between the two chiefs, to throw most of the troops 
on board the larger ships of war, and make them the transports, 
pro hac vice. All preliminary arrangements having been made, 
this was done on the morning of the 9th : and between eleven 
and twelve o'clock, the fleet — Commodore Conner leading, in the 
flag-ship Raritan (Captain Forrest), whose decks, like those of the 
other ships* were crowded with troops, and General Scott follow- 



14 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



ing at a short distance, in the steamer Massachusetts — got under- 
way, in gallant style, and filed, one by one, out of the narrow 
pass leading from the anchorage. If we had had the choice of 
weather, we could not have selected a more propitious day. The 
sun shot forth his brilliant rays in a cloudless sky, and a gentle 
breeze from the south-east, which was favorable, and just suffi- 
cient for our purposes, rippled, without roughening, the sea. We 
were two hours in passing from Anton Lizardo to Sacrificios — two 
hours of such eager excitement as those only can know who have 
taken part in such an expedition. Every step of our progress was 
fraught with the associations of three hundred years ; and the 
mind, as it recognized object after object, famous in the history 
of the conquest, became tinctured with the romance of that remote 
period, and emulous of the deeds which had characterized its 
actors. How curious and philosophical would have been the spec- 
tacle, had Cortez been able, from the tops of the sand-hills, on 
which he first landed, and which same sand-hills we were now 
about to crown with our banners, to look down upon our gallant 
fleet, interspersed with that most wonderful and most potent of 
all modern machines, the steam-ship, and arrayed in the stars and 
stripes of an unknown flag ! Time, with his scythe and hour- 
glass, had brought another and a newer race, to sweep away the 
moldered and moldering institutions of a worn-out people, and 
replace them with a fresher and more vigorous civilization. The 
descendant of the Dane and the Saxon, with "progress" inscribed 
on his helmet, had come to supplant the never-changing Visigoth 
in his halls, and to claim that superiority for his lineage, which an 
all-wise Providence has so indelibly stamped upon it. As the 
ships approached their allotted anchoring ground, they came to, 
although still much crowded, notwithstanding their reduction of 
numbers, in the most harmonious and exact order, each one drop- 
ping her anchor and swinging into her appropriate place, without 
the least confusion, and with the most admirable precision. Indeed, 
so thoroughly and ably had Commodore Conner organized the 
whole movement ; from the transfer of the troops from the vessels 
in which they had arrived, to the ships of war ; to the placing them 
with haversack and musket on the enemy's beach, that it was next 
to impossible that anything could go wrong. The surf-boats, 67 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



15 



in number, and each one manned by experienced seamen of the 
navy, were* hauled alongside of the ships ; the soldiers, with their 
arms and accoutrements, were passed into them ; and as each boat 
received her complement, she shoved off, and laid on her oars, at 
a little distance, until the others should be ready. The post of 
honor on this memorable occasion, was given to Brevet Brigadier- 
General Worth, who had so recently distinguished himself before 
Monterey — it being decided by the general-in-chief, that his divi- 
sion — the 1st division of regulars, which afterward became so 
celebrated in the valley of Mexico — should be the first to flout our 
flag in the enemy's face. Accordingly, when all was ready, the 
general, whose fine military person and bearing, had already won 
the hearts of such of the officers of the navy, as had come in 
contact with him, descended into one of the man-of-war's boats, 
prepared for him, and placing himself at the head of his troops, 
moved, in a semicircle, toward the shore. Commodore Conner 
had previously directed the two steamers, Spitfire, Commander 
Tattnall, and Yixen, Commander Sands, with five gun-schooners, 
to anchor in line, abreast of the beach, to cover the landing, in 
case any opposition should be made. This part of the movement 
had already been handsomely executed. Nothing could exceed 
the beauty of this spectacle, as viewed from the poop of the flag- 
ship. It was just before sunset, an hour at which all the beauties 
of the Mexican coast are wont to stand out in bold and beautiful 
relief. The day had continued as clear as it had begun, and the 
sea-breeze, as it died gradually away, had left behind it a glazed 
and unruffled sea. The magnificent mountain of Orizaba, with 
its snow-clad summit, which had been hid from view most of the 
day, suddenly revealed itself, with startling distinctness and gran- 
deur ; the distant Cofre of Perote loomed up, also, in blue and 
mystic beauty, and the bold and rugged outline of the coast, 
seemed more bold and rugged still, from the refracting power of 
the atmosphere. 

The walls of the town and castle, the domes of the churches, 
and the rigging and mast-heads of the foreign men-of-war, an- 
chored at Sacrificios, all filled with curious and eager spectators, 
completed a scene which made a lively impression upon the minds 
of all beholders. The boats reaching the shore, in fine style, the 



16 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



troops debarked in good order ; and in a few minutes afterward 
a detachment, which had wound its way up one of the sand-hills, 
unfurled the American flag, and waving it proudly over their 
heads, planted it in the land of Cortez. As if by common con- 
sent, a shout, such as seamen only can give, arose at this mo- 
ment from the decks of all the ships-of-war present, which was 
joined in, and prolonged, by such portions of the army as had not 
yet landed. The debarkation now went briskly forward, and be- 
fore ten o'clock, p. m., the whole force present, consisting of about 
twelve thousand men, was safely landed, without the occurrence 
of a single mistake or accident ; an event unparalleled in the his- 
tory of similar operations, and of which any naval commander 
might well be proud. The officers of the navy, although cut off 
by the nature of the war, from any participation in its glories, 
none the less willingly discharged their duties to the government, 
and aided their more fortunate brethren of the army, to gather 
fresh laurels for their common country. 

A few days after this event, Commodore Conner was relieved 
from his command by Commodore Perry, and returned to the 
United States, followed by the regrets and respect of the brave 
officers and men, who had been so long under his orders. He 
had commanded the squadron four years ; a year longer than the 
allotted period ; and from the harassing nature of the service in 
which he had been employed, and the effects of an unhealthy cli- 
mate, on a constitution naturally weak, he had become almost a 
confirmed invalid. Like the self-sacrificing Collin^wood, how- 
ever, he never complained or relaxed a moment in his attention to 
his public duties, and would, had it been necessary, have cheer- 
fully surrendered his life at his post. Commodore Perry was an 
able and worthy successor, and blessed with more vigor of consti- 
tution ; a matter of no small consideration, in a predatory war, 
on an unhealthy coast. He hoisted his flag on board the steamer 
Mississippi, and continued the zealous co-operation with General 
Scott, which Commodore Conner had commenced. 

On the night of the landing, our troops, having thrown forward 
proper advanced guards, bivouacked on the sands, without tents, 
or .other shelter than that afforded by their blankets, beneath the 
open sky. The next morning, they drove in the enemy's pickets, 



IN THE VALLEY" OF MEXICO. 



17 



and beo-an to extend the line of investment around the city. This 
was a most difficult and laborious work to perform, as it was ne- 
cessary to transport almost everything by hand, for the want of 
proper draught animals, but few of which had as yet arrived. The 
ground to be occupied, too, was remarkably difficult, being com- 
posed of arid sand-hills, whose slopes were covered with a stunt- 
ed growth of the thorny mimosa, prickly pear, and other plants, 
forming impassable chapparals, which it was frequently necessary 
to cut through with the axe. As before remarked, when speaking 
of the topography of Vera Cruz, there were frequent pools of 
water, too, between these hills, which it was necessary either to 
traverse, or make lengthy detours to avoid. But the officers and 
men were animated by the utmost enthusiasm, and betaking them- 
selves manfully to their tasks, they drew their line around the 
city on the evening of the third day ; the line being five miles in 
extent. Some skirmishing with parties of the enemy's cavalry 
ensued, while these operations were going forward, but nothing 
of moment occurred. General Worth occupied, with his division, 
a position in this line immediately S. E. of the city, establishing 
his head-quarters very near the point where he first landed. This 
was to be the front of attack. General Scott also established his 
head-quarters in this vicinity, a few hundred yards south of 
those of General Worth. General Twiggs, with the second divi- 
sion of regulars, was directed to take up his position at Vergara, 
north of the city ; and General Patterson, commanding the divi- 
sion of volunteers, occupied that portion of the line west of the 
city, and intermediate between these two extremes. He had 
under his orders Brigadier- Generals Quitman, Pillow, and Shields. 
Before these arrangements were completed, a norther set in, and 
greatly incommoded the troops ; sweeping the frail foundation of 
sand from beneath their feet, as they traversed the arid and ever- 
shifting desert, and almost stifling them in their progress. The 
blow suspended all communication with the shipping; and no pro- 
gress could be made in landing necessary provisions and stores, 
until the 13th, when, the gale having abated, the officers and sea- 
men of the navy, with their accustomed energy and zeal, threw 
rapidly on shore such articles as were most urgently required, and 
began landing the mortars and artillery. A number of cavalry 
2 



18 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



and draught horses having arrived, they were also landed, to the 
great relief of the more distant parts of the line. By dint of 
great exertions, all the necessary intrenching tools, carts, pack- 
saddles, etc., and twelve or fourteen mortars, with a greater or 
less supply of shells, were landed, by the 17th. During all this 
time, there had been a random fire kept up, by the city batteries, 
and the castle, and a number of shells had been thrown into the 
lines, but with little effect ; as, up to this period, there had only 
been three men killed, and four or five wounded. Amono- the 
former was Captain Alburtis, of the 2d Infantry — a gallant and 
accomplished officer, who fell much regretted by his companions 
in arms ; and among the latter, Lieutenant- Colonel Dickenson, of 
South Carolina, who afterward fell gloriously in the valley of 
Mexico. On the night of the 18th, the trenches were opened, 
and taken possession of, by the troops. On the 22d, the engi- 
neers and ordnance officers, having succeeded in placing in batte- 
ry seven mortars, and preparations being well advanced for receiv- 
ing others, General Scott formally summoned the city to surren- 
der. To his summons a polite reply was returned, by General 
Morales, the commandant of both city and castle, to the effect that 
he meant to defend himself to the last extremity. Upon the 
return of the flag, all communication with the town, by the neu- 
tral men-of-war (which up to this time had been unrestricted), was 
prohibited by Commodore Perry ; and General Scott, at a quarter 
past four, in the afternoon, ordered the mortar batteries to open 
upon the city ; which was done with much spirit and effect. After 
a few rounds, the officers got the exact range of their shells, and 
threw them with wonderful precision into those parts of the 
city, which they selected as their targets. These batteries were 
numbered 1, 2, and 3. About six o'clock, on the same afternoon, 
Captain Vinton, of 3d Artillery, while in command of battery 
jSTo. 3, was killed. This gentleman, like Captain Alburtis, was 
beloved and respected by the army, and his loss was severely felt. 

As soon as Commodore Perry had observed that the mortars 
had opened, he directed Commander Tattnall, in the Spitfire ; with 
the Vixen, Commander Sands ; and gun-schooners Bonita, Lieu- 
tenant Benham ; Reefer, Lieutenant Sterrett ; Petrel, Lieutenant 
Shaw ; Falcon, Lieutenant Glasson ; and Tampico, Lieutenant 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



19 



Griffin, to take up a position within effective range of the city, and 
pour in their fire, also. This movement was handsomely exe- 
cuted ; the little fleet anchoring in line, in a small bend formed 
by Point Hornos, about a mile from the city walls, and opening a 
well-directed and destructive fire. These vessels, though small, 
were all heavily armed with thirty-two -pounders, and eight-inch 
Paixhan guns ; and, consequently, at the distance of a mile, which 
was the nearest they could approach, without bringing themselves 
within point-blank range of two hundred pieces of artillery, on 
the castle and city walls, their fire was very effective. The ene- 
my, who had been firing at intervals only, since the landing, and 
throwing an occasional shell from city and castle, when he per- 
ceived that the attack had commenced in earnest, opened upon us 
with all his batteries, that would bear upon the attacking part of 
the line, and the fleet, and began to throw back at us, at least, 
shell for shell. The castle was armed with some very heavy 
mortars, and now and then threw a shell of immense size, and 
destructive force. As these mammoth engines of war would 
bury themselves in the sand, and explode with the detonation of 
a thunder-bolt, the ground would be shaken for yards around, as 
though there had been a miniature earthquake. It was an awful, as 
well as grand and beautiful, spectacle, to behold this first engage- 
ment of the two opposing armies, with its deafening roar of artil- 
lerv, clouds of wreathing smoke, crashing of shot and shells, and 
flashes of lurid lightning, as the heavy pieces belched forth their 
destructive missiles of death. But mere word-painting is inade- 
quate to give a correct idea of a battle-scene. At dark, both par- 
ties ceased the fire of their artillery, and the " mosquito " fleet, as 
Tattnall's small vessels were appropriately called, drew off for the 
night. The mortars, on both sides, continued to illumine the 
darkness by the rapid and beautiful passage of their shells through 
the air ; and the terrific explosions of these occasionally broke in 
upon our slumbers, on board the fleet, to remind us that the work 
of destruction was going bravely on. At day-light on the 23d, 
Tattnall, by the order of Commodore Perry, advanced boldly to 
attack the castle ; not with the expectation of making any serious 
impression upon it, but to divert its fire, for the moment, from the 
land-forces. He took up his position, within about eight hundred 



20 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



yards, and to the astonishment and admiration of both sailors and 
soldiers, maintained it for half an hour and more, until he was 
recalled by signal, retiring without having sustained any serious 
loss. 

A norther soon afterward sprung up, and continued to blow 
furiously through the day, cutting off again, all intercourse be- 
tween the shipping and the shore, and thus seriously retarding 
the progress of the siege. The fire of the mortars was slackened 
for the want of shells (which could not be landed), there being 
but one shell thrown in every five minutes. The further incon- 
venience was felt of having the trenches and mortar batteries filled 
up with sand, almost as fast as it could be removed. Three more 
mortars, which had been previously landed, were placed in bat- 
tery to-day, and the engineers, and sappers, and miners were 
employed in constructing two batteries for siege pieces. General 
Scott finding that his battering train, which was a very heavy and 
well appointed one, did not arrive in time, was compelled to ask 
for assistance from Commodore Perry. The navy had, from the 
first, hoped that it would be allowed to participate in the opera- 
tions on shore, and had volunteered for this purpose ; but it was 
generally understood in the squadron, that its services had been 
declined ; and that there was a manifest desire on the part of the 
general-in-chief, to confine it, as much as possible, to the ships, 
and to the sea-beach, where the materiel of the army was being 
landed. It may be that this was an unjust suspicion, but it being 
a part of the res gestce of the siege, I deem it proper to mention it. 
It was seen that the shells were having but little effect, in quarters 
where it was most desirable to produce it. The houses were shat- 
tered, women and children were killed (a shell falling through the 
dome of the church of Santo Domingo, killed a number of wound- 
ed, who had been carried thither by the surgeons to have their 
wounds dressed ; and upon the remainder of them being removed 
to the church of San Francisco, occupied as a hospital, by a 
strange accident, another shell fell through the roof of this build- 
ing also, and, with a terrible explosion, killed nineteen persons, 
many of them women and children), and much destitution and 
misery were produced among the inhabitants ; but the fortifica- 
tions, and their garrisons, which were better protected, were 



LN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



21 



scarcely at all injured, owing to the impossibility of shelling 
isolated points, of small extent, with precision. General Scott's 
heaviest battering guns were twenty-four-pounders, entirely too 
light for breaching purposes ; it was not known how long the 
enemy might hold out, unless the city could be carried by assault ; 
the season of the vomito was approaching, and there was no alter- 
native, but to have recourse to the navy for heavier metal, where- 
with to breach the walls. General Scott, accordingly, in a 
conversation with Commodore Perry, made known to this officer 
his wants, and required of him a portion of his guns. The corn- 
modore's courteous and gallant reply, couched in Lacedemonian 
brevity, was, " Certainly, General, but I must fight them." And 
he did fi^ht them, as the reader will see. The officers and seamen 
of the navy, who had hitherto borne the brunt of all the labor 
in landing the arms and other munitions belonging to the army, 
without a murmur, and had even extorted commendations from 
the general-in-chief, himself, for the energy with which they had 
addressed themselves to this more ignoble task, received w^ith de- 
light the intelligence that they were, at last, to participate in the 
honors of the siege. 

Six heavy pieces of ordnance were landed, and about two 
hundred seamen and volunteers being attached to each piece, 
with incredible toil and perseverance, they dragged them, by 
main strength, a distance of three miles, to the point where they 
were to be put in battery ; most of the way, through loose sand, 
knee deep, and fording, in their passage, a lagoon two feet deep 
and seventy yards wide. With the able assistance of the engi- 
neers, and sappers and miners, who w^ere equally unremitting and 
zealous in their labors, the officers w r ere enabled to place their 
pieces in battery, during the night of the 23d. The mask of this 
battery, which was within seven hundred yards of the city walls, 
had been well preserved, and the engineers and seamen had 
worked without being observed or molested by the enemy. The 
battery was situated about due south of the center of the city, in 
General Patterson's portion of the line of investment, and conse- 
quently under his orders. But with a tact and delicacy highly 
commendable, he did not make us aware, at any one time during 
the operations, that he was our commanding officer. The six: 



22 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



guns, of which the battery was composed, were of the following 
description and weight of metal ; the heaviest, perhaps, that had 
ever before been mounted in siege : 

Three 68-pounder shell-guns, weighing 63 cwt. each. 
Three 32-pounder solid-shot guns, of the same weight. 
On the same evening on which this battery was completed, 
Colonel Bankhead, the chief of artillery, had caused to be placed 
in battery, three twenty-four-pounders ; to this battery, there 
were subsequently added another twenty-four-pounder, and two 
eight-inch howitzers. The mortar batteries having been num- 
bered 1, 2, and 3, as before remarked, the twenty-four-pounder 
battery was numbered 4, and the navy battery numbered 5. 
These were all the batteries that were erected during the siege 
of Vera Cruz, viz : By the army, JSTos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, con- 
taining ten mortars, two howitzers, and four twenty-four-pound- 
ers ; and by the navy, ISTo. 5, containing six sixty-eight and 
thirty, -two-pounder shell and solid-shot guns. The norther, which, 
as we have remarked, had been blowing all day, lulled at night, 
and enabled Commodore Perry to make suitable preparations for 
taking possession of, and opening his heavy battery on, the morrow. 
Up to this time, we had been throwing shells, regularly, into the 
town for two days, without producing other effects than such as I 
have described, of destroying a beautiful city, and killing the in- 
offensive, because unarmed, portion of the population. The true 
object of a siege is to reduce the armed portion of the population 
to submission, and thus insure the surrender of the place : hu- 
manity, in the present century, revolts at the destruction of private 
property, and the unnecessary effusion of blood. Both of these 
results necessarily follow the institution and active prosecution of 
a siege, it is true ; but then, it is our duty to diminish them as 
much as possible. Instead of throwing shells from a safe dis- 
tance into a fortified city, and thus making war upon the private 
domicil of the citizen, killing his wife and children, and destroy 
ing his property, we should erect batteries against its fortified 
points, and assail its military defenders ; breaching the walls, and 
carrying the city by the bayonet, if necessary, in order, that if 
blood flow, it may flow in the right quarter. There is no cause 
to fear, that the disgraceful scenes which have so often and so 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



23 



recently attended the storming of cities in Europe, will ever be 
re-enacted by our humane and enlightened soldiery, on this con- 
tinent. The storming of the rich and populous capital of Mexico, 
is a guarantee that they will not be. 

If Vera Cruz had been well supplied with provisions, and gar- 
risoned by resolute men, it might have held out for six months, 
against all the shells that we could have thrown into it : it was, 
therefore, both a judicious and a humane move, on the part of 
General Scott, to call in the navy to his aid, to breach the walls 
for him, in order that he might carry the place by assault ; as it 
was his intention to do, had the enemy held out twenty-four 
hours longer. Early on the morning of the 24th, Capt. Aulick — 
the second in command of the squadron — with a party of officers 
and seamen, took possession of battery No. 5 ; and clearing away 
the masking of brush, etc., by which it had been hid from the 
enemy, opened a rapid and heavy fire from the whole of his six 
pieces. The enemy was astonished at the vigor and power of 
this new assailant. Hitherto, the walls and forts had not been 
touched, but now our heavy solid-shot, thrown from thirty -two- 
pounders, at the short distance of seven hundred yards, came 
plunging, at the first blow, through the walls (which had been 
constructed of the soft and brittle coral rock, and were a good 
deal dilapidated by age, and the elements), killing his artillerists, 
and dismounting his guns. While the thirty-two-pounders were 
doing this execution, the hollow-shot guns, firing with nearly the 
same accuracy, exploded their terrible missiles, precisely where 
the officers chose to put them — not through the domes of 
churches and hospitals, but in the casemates and barracks of the 
soldiers. The Mexicans, becoming thus aware that Commodore 
Perry was "fighting his guns/' concentrated upon the gallant 
little battery, the fire of three forts, Santiago, and two others 
farther west ; one of the latter being precisely in our front. Cap- 
tain Aulick maintained his fire until four o'clock, p. m., when his 
ammunition being exhausted, and his defenses a good deal injured, 
he ceased for the night. In this, our first day's work, we had 
four men killed, and six wounded ; Lieutenant Baldwin being 
among the latter. The mortars continued to throw their shells as 
usual, but somewhat more languidly, on account of a short supply 



24 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



of ammunition, which the norther of the previous day had pre- 
vented us from landing. 

The army battery of twenty-four-pounders (No. 4), had not 
yet been able to open — the arrangements of the battery not being 
complete. Commodore Perry having directed that the officers 
and seamen, serving at the naval battery, should be relieved every 
evening at sunset, in order that as many of them as possible, 
might have a chance at "the glories/' Captain Aulick and his 
party were relieved by Captain Mayo, of the flag-ship Mississippi, 
with a fresh detail of officers and men. 

Colonel P. F. Smith, of the Rifles, cantoned at Yergara, had a 
clever little affair to-day, near the Puente del Medio — a bridge 
across a small stream that empties into the river Antigua — with 
between two and three hundred of the enemy. With about the 
same force, he drove them handsomely from their position, and 
killed three or four of their men. 

Toward evening, General Scott received a memorial from the 
consuls of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Prussia — all the 
consuls then within the city of Vera Cruz — asking him to grant a 
truce, to enable the neutral residents, and Mexican women and 
children to withdraw from the scene of havoc around them. As 
according 1 to the rules of civilized warfare in Christian countries, 
one of the legitimate means of reducing an enemy to terms, is to 
starve his women and children ; we did not, of course, accede to 
this proposition ; General Scott replying: 1st that he had admo- 
nished them (the consuls), as early as the 13th, of the dangers 
that were impending ; 2dly, that he had left open to them a free 
communication with the ships of war of their respective nations, 
until the 22d ; and 3dly, that on this latter day, in his summons 
to General Morales to surrender the city, "he had fully considered 
the impending hardships and distresses of the place, including 
those of the women and children." Wherefore the memorialists 
" took nothing" by their memorial, and the work of the siege went 
forward. 

The night of the 24th was a beautiful star-light night — as well 
as I remember, there was no moon — and the relief party, for the 
navy battery, reached its station — after running the gauntlet of 
the enemy's fire, on a portion of the route — a little before sunset. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



25 



We bivouacked our men in a clump of bushes on the southern, or 
off-slope, of the sand-hill, on the brow of which the battery was 
placed ; cooked an excellent supper, with plenty of hot coffee ; 
smoked a cigar, and went to bed ; that is to say, each one of us 
made a hole in the sand, to conform to the angularity of his figure, 
and pulled a blanket over his head. Meanwhile the engineers, 
with relief working parties, were busy with the repair of our 
defenses, which had been rendered almost untenable, and a de- 
tachment of volunteers kept guard while we slept. Although our 
position sheltered us from the direct fire of the enemy, which 
indeed had ceased since night set in, yet an occasional shell, 
thrown at random in our direction, exploded in fearful proximity 
to us. The novelty of my position, and the excitement of the 
scene around me — the engineers working away at our sand-bags, 
like so many specters, by the starlight, the sentinel, at a little dis- 
tance, pacing his solitary round, and the sailors collected in small 
groups, discoursing, sotto voce, but not so sotto either, but that every 

now and then, a " d n my eyes" could be heard — prevented me 

from sleeping. Perhaps, after all, a little sensation of nervous- 
ness, occasioned by the thought of being set up, on the morrow, to be 
shot at by three batteries, had more to do with my wakefulness, than 
at the time I was willing to confess to myself. In the early part 
of the night, the walls of the city abreast of us, and on our right, 
were brilliantly illuminated by the burning of some sheds and 
other buildings in the suburbs ; no doubt, fired by the Mexicans 
themselves, to unmask new pieces, which they were placing in 
position, to oppose us. About midnight, I wandered to a small 
eminence, in the neighborhood of our battery, to look forth upon 
the scene. It was perfectly calm. The fleet at Sacrificios was 
just visible through the gloom, and was sleeping quietly at its 
anchors, without other sign of life, than a solitary light burning 
at the gaff -end of the commodore. The castle of San Juan de 
Ulloa, magnified out of all proportion by the uncertain starlight, 
and looking ten times more somber and defiant than ever, ap- 
peared to enjoy equal repose. Even the sea seemed to have gone 
to sleep, after the turmoil of the recent norther, as the only sound 
that reached the ear, from that direction, was a faint, very faint 
murmur, hoarse and plaintive, as the lazy swell, with scarcely 
3 



26 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



energy enough to break, stranded itself on the beach. The cricket 
and the catydid, and myriads of other insects — the south is the land 
of insects — chirruped in a sort of inharmonious melody, reminding 
One of his far-off home and of fireside scenes. But if nature was 
thus inclined to repose, man was not, for Death still held his car- 
nival within the walls of the beleaguered city. Those horrid 
mortars of ours were in "awful activity." The demons incarnate, 
all begrimed with powder and smoke, who served them at this 
midnight hour, having received a fresh supply of shells and am- 
munition, since the lull of the norther, seemed to redouble their 
energies, to make up for their lazy day's work of yesterday. 
They gave the doomed city no respite, not even for a single mo- 
ment, as the air was never without its tenant, winging its way on 
its errand of death. I sat and watched these missiles for an hour 
and more, and I shall never forget the awful scream, apparently 
proceeding from several female voices, which came ringing on the 
night air, as one of those terrible engines of destruction exploded — 
carrying death and dismay, no doubt, to some family circle. Jfo 
sight could have been more solemn and impressive — the imagina- 
tion dwelling all the while on the awful tragedy which was being 
enacted — than the flight of those missiles through the air. The 
night was just dark enough to admit of their burning fuses being 
seen, as they traced those beautiful parabolas, peculiar to this 
kind of projectile. And then, the awful precision with which 
they would explode, called forth my constant admiration. They 
seemed to be hid but a single second or less, behind the dark cur- 
tain of the city walls, before the terrible explosion — reverberated 
and magnified, as it passed through the streets, by the wails of 
the houses — would almost stun the ear — I was only seven hundred 
yards off, and the humidity of the atmosphere was highly favora- 
ble to the passage of sound. Occasionally, several would be in 
the air at the same time — I counted as high as five on one occa- 
sion — chasing each other like playful meteors, and exploding in 
quick succession like a feu de joie. We were astir, the next 
morning, at early daylight — our boatswain's mate having aroused 
all hands, in man-of-war fashion, with a shrill note from his 
"call" — silver whistle — and a voice resembling the growl of a 
grizzly bear. By sunrise, we were at our work ; the seamen hand- 



IX THE VALLEY OE MEXICO. 



27 



ling their long 32s and 68s like toys, and the officers delivering their 
fire in quick succession, and in the right place. The enemy was 
not long in replying to us. The same three batteries that had 
handled Captain Aulick so roughly yesterday, concentrated upon 
us again to-day, apparently with renewed energy. In addition to 
this, the castle, which by this time had discovered the true point 
of attack, began to throw a monster shell at us, at intervals. We 
had constant occasion to admire the spirit and accuracy, with 
which the Mexican artillerists handled their pieces. Their shot, 
which were much lighter than ours, came whistling just over our 
heads, or buried themselves in the sand-bags, at the muzzles of 
our guns, with a spiteful and sullen sound, as if in a rage of dis- 
appointment at not being able to reach us. Now and then, one 
would come whizzing through the embrasures, taking off some 
poor fellow's head, or having spent itself on the parapet outside, 
come hopping in lightly on the platform, where we were working 
the guns. We collected several of these, and sent them back 
a^ain — two at a time — to the enemy, with our compliments. At 
heavy artillery exercise, the Mexicans are perhaps our equals — 
their practice is very constant — but they fall far short of us, in 
the management of light pieces in the field. It so happened that 
the two navies were opposed to each other, on this occasion ; the 
little battery, immediately in front of us, and the hottest and most 
efficient of the three, being commanded by Lieutenant Holsinger, 
an intelligent young German, who had been several years in the 
Mexican service. We, of the Raritan — Captain Forrest being 
represented by a thirty -two — paid our particular respects to this 
gentleman. Our piece fired with the accuracy of a rifle, as did 
all the solid-shot guns, and we were consequently enabled to 
pitch our heavy metal "right into him." We shot away his 
colors twice, which the gallant fellow as often replaced, though 
we must have been riddling his slight redoubt, and slaying his 
seamen at every discharge. About seven o'clock, in the day, the 
army battery, No. 4 — twenty-four-pounders — opened its fire, and 
rendered us friendly assistance, by diverting the attention of Fort 
Santiago — though this fort being more distant than the other 
two, had done us but little damage. The_ mortars continuing, 
too, to throw their shells with spirit, the whole constituted 



28 



general scott's campaign 



that " awful activity" described by the general-in-chief, in his 
dispatch. 

About this time, an accident occurred, which had well-nigh put 
an end to our breaching operations, in the navy battery. The 
castle, which, as I have remarked, had been shelling us at inter- 
vals, threw one of its thirteen inch bombs, with such precision 
that it lighted on the sand, not more than five paces in the rear 
of one of the guns. At about this distance in the rear of each 
piece, we had stationed a quarter-gunner, with a small copper 
tank, capable of holding eight or ten charges of powder — each 
charge weighing about ten pounds. The shell falling near one 
of these petty officers, he turned, upon hearing a noise behind 
him — he had not seen the shell fall — and finding a monstrous 
cannon ball there, as he thought, mechanically put his hand upon 
it. Finding it hot, it at once occurred to him what it was. It 
was too late to run, and in the consternation of the moment, like a 
drowning man who will grasp at a straw, he doubled himself up 
in a heap, and attempted to burrow himself, head foremost, in the 
sand, like an ostrich. All this occurred in the space of a second, 
and in a moment more, the shell exploded, with the noise of a 
thousand pieces of artillery, shaking the battery like an earth- 
quake, and covering the officers and seamen with clouds of dust 
and sand. Our fire was suspended for a moment, and when the 
smoke had cleared off sufficiently to enable us to distinguish 
objects, every officer looked around him in breathless anxiety, 
expecting to behold the blackened corpses, and mutilated limbs of 
half his comrades at least. Strange to say, not a soul was hurt. 
Lieutenant Frailey had his hat badly wounded by a fragment of 
the shell, which carried away one-half of its rim. Even the 
quarter-gunner, who, on such short notice found it impossible to 
get down into the sand, and who beside had had his copper tank 
blown up, with forty or fifty pounds of powder in it, had escaped 
unhurt — the fragments fortunately rising into the air, instead of 
spreading laterally. We continued our fire until two o'clock, p. m., 
when the enemy's batteries all ceased, except now and then a 
random shot. The city was beaten ; and on the same afternoon, 
we had the satisfaction of seeing a white flag pass into General 
Scott's camp — Washington. The navy "battery, in the last two 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



29 



days, had thrown one thousand paixhan shells, and eight hundred 
round shot into the enemy's walls and forts. Colonel Bankhead, 
the chief of ordnance, estimated the whole number of shot and 
shells, thrown by the army, at two thousand five hundred. In the 
engagement just ended, we had lost five men killed — Midshipman 
Shubrick being of the number. This officer, while fighting his 
gun, had his throat cut with a twelve-pound shot, and expired 
instantly. As they were taking his corpse to the rear, I feared it 
was our gallant captain, who had exposed himself, as his friends 
thought, very unnecessarily, during the heat of the contest. 

The enemy no longer molesting us, we collected in groups, on 
the tops of our sand-bags, to examine the damage we had done. 
By the aid of our glasses, we could see that both the forts abreast of 
us, and with which we had had such hot work, were completely de- 
molished ; the guns dismounted, and the walls knocked into a heap 
of ruins ; and that our efforts at breaching the city walls had been 
successful beyond our expectations. These no longer presented 
any obstacle to an assaulting army ; as at the points at which we 
had directed our aim, scarce one stone remained upon another. — 
We were pained to observe, too, that despite ourselves, we had 
knocked down many of the habitations of the poorer class of peo- 
ple, which abounded in this quarter. The city, which had been 
deprecating the use of shells, and clamoring for an assault, now 
that an assault had become practicable, and was on the point of 
being offered to it, suddenly lost courage, and began to make pre- 
parations for surrender. General Morales, finding that the crisis 
had arrived, and being unwilling to surrender himself a prisoner 
on parole, and thus, in all probability, cut himself off from all 
further opportunity of taking part in the war, made his escape — 
with the commandant of militia — on the night of the 25th, in a 
small boat ; devolving the command on General Landero, with 
whom Commodore Conner had had much official intercourse dur- 
ing the blockade, and whom we always found a courteous and 
clever gentleman. 



CHAPTER II. 



Ssiege of Vera Cruz continued — Articles of capitulation signed — Surrender 
of the city — The Mexican army marches out, and lavs down its arms — 
General Scott's dispatch announcing the .result — General Quitman marches 
to the attack of Alvarado — Is anticipated by Lieutenant Hunter — Subse- 
quent trial of this officer for disobedience of orders — New aspect of Vera 
Cruz under American rule — Capture of Tuspan — Exploration of the river 
of this name — Author ordered into the interior of Mexico, on a special 
mission — Departure from Vera Cruz — Incidents of the road — The alcalde 
of Santa Fe — Valley of San Juan, and encounter of General Pillow. 

ISTothing satisfactory having been as yet settled, with regard to 
the surrender, a moderate fire was kept up by Colonel Bankhead, 
from his mortars, during the night, and until eight o'clock on the 
morning of the 26th, when another flag appearing with definite 
propositions, General Scott ordered the firing to cease from all the 
batteries. Thus was achieved, what has been called, the " blood- 
less victory " of Vera Cruz ;* bloodless enough, so far as we were 
concerned, but an awful tragedy to the enemy. The army lost, 
in killed, only ten persons, including those who died of their 
wounds ; the navy lost, in its battery, nine persons killed, includ- 
ing one who died of his wounds, making a total of nineteen ; 
while the enemy estimated his loss at a thousand souls, in killed 
and wounded — most of them killed, as is always the case in artil- 
lery combats ! The possession of Vera Cruz, with its castle and 

* But for the prompt surrender of the city, it would have been assaulted — 
probably the day after the walls were breached by the naval battery. Gene- 
ral Scott and Commodore Perry had organized a storming party, to consist 
of three columns, composed, respectively, of the sailors and marines of the 
squadron, the regulars, and the volunteers. To Commodore Perry had 
been assigned the task of carrying the sea-front of the city, and the gallant 
commodore had resolved to head his storming column, in person. He had 
also made arrangements for storming the water-battery of the castle of San 
Juan de Ulloa, during the siege, and spiking its guns, and only waited for 
the waning of the moon to put his plan in execution ; but the unexpected 
surrender of the city prevented him. 

(30) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN. 



31 



harbor was of immense importance to us. It turned over a new 
page in the history of the war, and opened to us the hitherto 
sealed way to the rich and populous plains of Anahuac ; the seat 
of the enemy's civilization and power. Our government, having 
retraced its former injudicious steps, now began to see some pros- 
pect of concluding a war, of which our people had already begun 
to grow tired, and which had been attended with unusual expense, 
owing to the unprepared state in which it had found us — as wars 
always find, and perhaps should find republics, so far as extensive 
military armaments are concerned. With such a base of opera- 
tions, of easy protection, affording us ample shelter for our troops, 
and spacious storehouses for our supplies, and, by the aid of 
steam, brought within three or four days of New Orleans, it 
would be an easy matter for us to take possession of the enemy's 
capital — a feat, which, up to this time, had been considered, by 
many persons, of difficult, if not doubtful, achievement. The 
commissioners appointed to negotiate the capitulation were, on our 
part, Brevet Major- General Worth — who had received, during the 
progress of the siege, the news of his promotion to this rank, 
awarded to him by a generous nation, in admiration of his bril- 
liant achievements before Monterey — Brigadier- General Pillow, 
and Colonel Totten, chief of engineers, to whom was afterward 
added, on demand of Commodore Perry, Captain Aulick, of the 
navy ; and on the part of the enemy, Colonel Villanueva, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel of engineers Robles, and Colonel Herrera. There 
were not many points to be discussed ; the city had been thorough- 
ly beaten, and the surrender must necessarily be unconditional, 
except so far as General Scott might mitigate its terms, to save the 
honor of a foe, who had made a spirited and obstinate defense. — 
Here follows General Scott's dispatch, announcing the result : 

"Head-Quarters of the Army, 

"Vera Cruz, March 29, 1847. 
"Sir: — The flag of the United States of America floats tri- 
umphantly over the walls of this city and the Castle of San Juan 
de Ulloa. , 

" Our troops have garrisoned both since ten o'clock. It is 



32 



GENERAL SCOTT "s CAMPAIGN 



row noon. Erip.iliir-LTer.eral vwrtl: is ir 
places. 

"Articles of capitulation were signed and exchanged, at a late 
hour, night before the last. I inclose a copy of the document. 

"I have heretofore reported the principal incidents of the siege 
up to the 25th instant. Nothing of striking interest occurred 
until early in the morning of the next day, when I received over- 
tures from General Landero, on whom General Morales had de- 
volved the principal command. A terrible storm of wind and 
sand made it difficult to communicate with the city, and impossi- 
ble to refer to Commodore Perry. I was obliged to entertain the 
proposition alone, or to continue the fire upon a place that had 
shown a disposition to surrender ; for the loss of a day. or per- 
haps several, could not be permitted. The accompanying papers 
will show the proceedings and results. 

" Yesterday, after the norther had abated, and the commis- 
sioners appointed by me early the morning before, had again met 
those appointed by General Landero, Commodore Perry sent 
ashore his second in command, Captain Aulick, as a commissioner 
on the part of the navy. Although not included in my specific ar- 
rangement made with the Mexican Commander. I did not hesitate, 
with proper courtesy, to desire that Captain Aulick might be duly 
introduced and allowed to participate in the discussions and acts 
of the commissioners who had* been reciprocally accredited. — 
Hence the preamble to his signature. The original American 
commissioners were Brevet Brigadier- General Worth, Brigadier- 
General Pillow, and Colonel Totten. Four more able or judicious 
officers could not have been desired. 

" I have time to add but little more. The remaining details of 
the siege ; the able co-operation of the United States squadron, 
successively under the command of Commodores Conner and 
Perry ; the admirable conduct of the whole army — regulars and 
volunteers — I should be happy to dwell upon as they deserve ; 
but the steamer Princeton, with Commodore Conner on board, is 
under- way, and I have commenced organizing an advance into 
the interior. This may be delayed a few days, waiting the arri- 
val of additional means of transportation. In the meantime, a 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



33 



joint operation, by land and water, will be made upon Alvarado. 
No lateral expedition, however, shall interfere with the grand 
movement toward the capital. 

"In consideration of the great services of Colonel Totten, in 
the siege that has just terminated most successfully, and the im- 
portance of his presence at Washington, as the head of the Engi- 
neer Bureau, I intrust this dispatch to his personal care, and beg 
to commend him to the very favorable consideration of the 
department. 

M 

*' I have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, your most 
obedient servant, "Wisfield Scott. 

" Hon. W. L. Marcy, Secretary of War." 

On the 26th, we were visited by another of those northers, 
which I have described, as occurring so frequently in the gulf, to 
the destruction of life and property. The anchorage at Sacrifl- 
cios was crammed with men-of-war, and with merchantmen of 
every class and description — steamers with fresh troops ; vessels 
freighted with horses and mules ; storeships with provisions, etc. 
The fjale blew with unusual severity, and started a great number of 
these ships from their anchors ; twenty-six of which finally went 
on shore, and were total losses, with their cargoes. Two, that 
were stranded north of the castle, lost most of their crews. The 
cargoes belonging to the government, the public loss could not 
have been less than half a million. 

The 29th of March, the day of the surrender, was a gala day, 
with the navy and army before Vera Cruz. The sun rose bril- 
liantly in an unclouded sky, and the sea-breeze came in gently 
and delightfully from the S. E. A o-reen meadow of considerable 
extent, immediately south of the city, had been chosen as a place 
where the enemy was to lay down his arms ; and thither, at an 
early hour, repaired a host of spectators from the camp, the city, 
and the shipping — including the foreign men-of-war — to witness 
the ceremony. General Worth was chosen as the marshal of the 
day, and the officer to receive the surrender. A limited number 
was picked out from each corps of the army, to represent their 
brethren ; and Commodore Perry had detailed for the occasion, 
number of officers and seamen to be present, on the part of the 



34 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



squadron. At ten o'clock, the hour appointed in the articles of 
capitulation, the Mexican flags, which had been hoisted, as usual, 
at sunrise,, on the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, and the forts of 
Santiago and Conception, were struck in these several places, 
saluted by the Mexican batteries ; and in a few moments after- 
ward, our glorious stripes and stars were unfolded to the breeze, 
under salutes from our own batteries and the squadron, and looked 
proudly forth over those arid sand-hills, and that wide gulf which 
had witnessed so many revolutions of empire during the last three 
hundred years. At this moment the enemy's troops were defiling 
out of the city gate : and, although the temptation seemed to be 
almost irresistible with the American multitude there assembled, to 
salute our proud banners with one long and loud hurra I good taste 
and a sense of propriety, which, I venture to say, have not often 
been equaled, restrained them. The Mexicans were about five 
thousand strong. They were arrayed in their best uniforms — 
many of those of the officers being covered with the stars and 
embroidery of which this people is so fond — and marched, with 
music playing, beneath the standards of their respective corps. — 
Accompanying the soldiery, were many women and children — the 
women loaded down with their simple household effects, and the 
children trudging on by their sides, looking with amazement and 
wonder upon the spectacle before them. 

Our men, on whose bronzed features were visible the joint emo- 
tions of pride of conquest, and sympathy for the fallen, were 
drawn up, under arms, in two lines, between which their late ene- 
mies passed. As each corps of the Mexican army reached a de- 
signated spot, the soldiers, in succession, divested themselves of 
their accoutrements, laid down these and their muskets, and passed 
on to the open fields, under jj a role, which they had previously given, 
" of not serving again in the present war. unless duly exchanged. " 
All persons retained their private effects : and the officers were 
permitted, beside, to retain their horses with their caparisons, and 
their side-arms. This solemn and novel spectacle lasted several 
hours, and presented one of those striking pictures which linger 
in the imagination, long after the reality has passed away. The 
two gallant armies, arrayed in the pomp and panoply of war ; the 
officers of the squadron, clad in their more modest blue and gold 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



35 



the seamen, with their rolling gait and holiday attire ; the mea- 
dow, the hills, the sea, and the glorious sunshine, all presented 
one of those coups cVozil which the pencil alone can portray. — 
General Worth was the " observed of all observers sitting his 
horse as proudly as a marshal of France, in the best days of 
the republic, and receiving the submission of the enemy, with a 
mingled dignity and grace, which he knew so well how to as- 
sume, and which became him so well. Thus ended the surrender 
of Yera Cruz. 

A day or two after we had taken possession of the city, Gen. Quit- 
man was dispatched, with his brigade, to capture Alvarado, a small 
town already described as lying a short distance up the river of 
the same name, about thirty miles S. E. of Yera Cruz. The 
boats of the squadron assisted the detachment across the small 
river, Medellin, that debouches a little south of Sacrificios ; and 
General Quitman marched rapidly forward, with the view of sur- 
prising the enemy, and carrying everything by a coup de main. — 
The march being by the sea beach, the first object that the troops 
would come upon, would be the fort at the entrance of the river. 
The engineers having been pushed forward to reconnoiter this 
position, their attention was attracted by a curious-looking Mexi- 
can flag, hoisted upon the fort. It did not look much like a 
Mexican flag either, they thought. What could it be ? Surely 
no pronunciamiento could have taken place since they left Yera 
Cruz, twenty-four hours before, and at that time Alvarado was 
undoubtedly in possession of the regular Mexican authorities ! 
They advance a little closer, take out their pocket handkerchiefs 
and wipe their glasses carefully, aod take another look. " Why, 
surely, I cannot be mistaken/' at length said one of them, "that 
must be the American flap*." " The American flap; ! how the 
devil did it get there?" replied his companion. "That's more 
than I can tell," rejoined the first speaker ; " but the American 
flag it is, and no mistake." 

The facts are, Commodore Perry, who had intended to co-oper- 
ate in person with General Quitman, in the capture of that place, 
had directed Captain Breese, of the sloop-of-war Albany, and 
Lieutenant Hunter, of the steamer Scourge, to precede him, to the 
bar of the river, and there lie at anchor, or cruise in observation, 



3'3 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

until he should arrive. The Scourge arriving before the Albany, 
stood close in to the land, abreast of the fort, and being tempted 
by the opportunity, fired several shot into it. The fort, having no 
intention of resistance, since the fall of Vera Cruz, and understand- 
ing these shot as a summons to surrender, dispatched a boat to 
the Scourge, with an officer, who surrendered accordingly. Upon 
this, Lieutenant Hunter threw a midshipman and five men into the 
fort, as a garrison, hoisted the " queer looking Mexican flag'' 
aforesaid, and pushed on to the towns of Alvarado, and Tlaco- 
talpam ; of both of which he took possession, in like manner. A 
court martial grew out of these proceedings, which resulted in the 
censure of Lieutenant Hunter. Although the decision of the 
court was unquestionably right, on military principles, I cannot 
but think that both Commodore Perry and General Quitman suf- 
fered themselves to be unnecessarily exasperated by Hunter's 
conduct. The motives of an officer, on all such occasions, should 
be looked into, and Hunter's were unquestionably good. With- 
out designing the least disrespect to his commanding officer, he 
thought he misrnt fairly avail himself of a state of things, which 
had nut been foreseen when the exreditim was cleaned. If the 
surrender had been tendered to Hunter, previous to the firing of 
his guns, his conduct would have stood the test of the strictest 
military principles : it was the firing only, which constituted his 
disobedience, and vitiated the rest of his proceedings. 

Commodore Perry now made Vera Cruz his head-quarters ; 
his presence being required there to regulate the affairs of the 
shipping, and maintain a sort of police afloat. The harbor became 
henceforth, crowded with vessels ; some under contract with the 
government, and some pushing their fortunes in the way of trade. 
European vessels began to come in also, on speculation, and 
probably, Vera Cruz, never before, presented such a spectacle 
mingled thrift and warlike preparation. The mole resembled an 
eastern bazaar, in the motley crowd of all colors, creeds and cos- 
tumes, with which it was constantly thronged. Spanish, French, 
German and other languages, with a large preponderance of good 
old English, met the ear, in a Babel-like confusion, and the pacific 
box and bale of commerce lay piled up indiscriminately with the 
terrible instruments of war. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



37 



Occupying a place at the pier end, were the mammoth guns of 
the navy battery, which had been transported thither to be em- 
barked on board their respective ships. These guns had become 
quite famous since we had taken possession of the town, and had 
examined, more at our leisure, the terrible execution done by 
them. The quarter against which they had been served, had been 
reduced to a complete wreck of crumbling ruins, and a loaded 
wagon might have been driven through either of the two breaches in 
the walls which had been opened by the resistless momentum of 
their heavy metal. 

Already, signs of the energy of our race began to appear, in 
the improvements of practical utility that met the eye on every 
hand. The reef of the Gallega, on which the proud old castle of 
San Juan de Ulloa had alternately slumbered in lordly repose, 
and awakened the echoes of war, for so many generations past, 
was degraded into a coal depot for steamers ; a substantial wharf 
of newly-sawed timber having been extended from it into the 
harbor, for the convenience of discharging and receiving the 
materiel. Sheds and wharves, for a similar purpose, had been con- 
structed, also, at the island of Sacrificios. The channels of the har- 
bor were marked out and buoyed, and pilot-boats from the Ches- 
apeake might be seen daily, cruising many miles out at sea, to 
pick up inward-bound vessels. Forges, and other workshops for 
the squadron were erected on Green Island, and a commodious hos- 
pital already loomed up from the little sand key of Salmadina, at 
Anton Lizardo. Not the least of the improvements which had 
been made in the city, was the total revolution which had taken 
place in the custom-house.* The eighty or ninety Mexican offi- 
cials, who had formerly occupied this building, had, of course, 

* It is a remarkable fact, and one highly creditable to all concerned, that 
not one of the officers of the navy, appointed by Commodore Perry to col- 
lect the customs at the various ports, occupied by him (and there were six 
of them), failed to settle his accounts at Washington, at the end of the war. 
Although large sums were received, and the duties were of a novel, and fre- 
quently embarrassing nature, every cent of the public money was accounted 
for, to the entire satisfaction of the Navy Department. Nor was there ever 
a complaint made to the government, on the part of any Mexican, of undue 
appropriation of property, or personal violence of any kind, committed by 
a naval officer. 



38 



GENERAL SOOTT's CAMPAIGN 



vacated their posts, and our friend, Dimond, the former consul of 
the port, with half a dozen assistants, bow performed the increased 
duties of collection, with a simplicity and rapidity that astonished 
those who had been accustomed to the cumbrous machinery of the 
defunct government. In short, the apathy and indifference to im- 
provement, amounting almost to contempt, of the Hispano-Mex- 
ican, had given place to the go-ahead-a-tiveness — new phases of 
society must have new words — of Brother Jonathan. 

For some time past, Commodore Perry had meditated an attack 
against Tuspan, a small maritime town situated on the river of 
the same name, about a hundred miles north-west of Vera Cruz, 
on the bar of which, the reader mav recollect, the bug- Truxton 
was lost. The island of Lobos, which had been the rendezvous 
of a portion of General Scott's transports, previous to the landing 
at Vera Cruz, being near the mouth of this river, was designated 
as the rendezvous on this occasion. The Bantam Albany, John 
Adams and Germantown, and the bomb vessels Vesuvius, Etna 
and Hecla having been dispatched a day or two previously. Com- 
modore Perry himself, in the steamer Mississippi, having in tow 
his usual musquito fleet, consisting of the steamers Spitfire, Vixen 
and Scourge, and gun-schooners Bonita, Petrel, and Reefer, got 
under-way on the 1 2th of April, and arrived at this island the 
next day. Here, twenty-four hours were spent in organizing 
landing parties, and practicing field exercises, with an excellent 
battery of light artillery, which Commodore Perry had organized 
for such occasions. On the loth we left Lobos for the anchorage 
under Tuspan reef — ten or twelve miles from the mouth of the 
river. Although it was the middle of April, we were separated, 
during the night, by a norther, and were not able to concentrate 
at the new rendezvous until the 17th. The whole of this clay was 
spent in sounding and buoying the bar, preparing the boats, etc. 
It being doubtful whether the steamers Spitfire and Vixen could 
enter the river, they were successively hauled alongside the Rari- 
tan, where their masts were taken out. and they were otherwise 
lightened to the requisite draught. This operation occupied us a 
greater part of the night, but our seamen worked "with a will," 
under the excitement of an occasional 1 'splice of the main-brace" 
— extra glass of grog — and the prospect of a ''bit of a row" on 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



39 



the morrow. Jack hoped to have a fight, but fight cr no fight, 
he had made up his mind to have a frolic. On the morning of 
the 18th, everything being in readiness, the small steamers, gun- 
schooners and barges moved in, to the bar, which being passed 
without accident, we lay to a few moments, to marshal the numer- 
ous small vessels and boats for the approach to the town. The 
flotilla was divided into three lines, each one being in tow of a 
steamer — Commodore Perry leading, in the Spitfire. The heavy 
vessels, which were lying outside, as well as the Ohio and Potomac, 
which had been left at Vera Cruz, were all represented by detach- 
ments ; the whole being under the command of Captain Breese, 
the senior captain present. About one o'clock, p. m., we moved up 
the river. The river is a narrow stream, not averaging more than 
from two to three hundred yards in width, and is bordered by 
extensive marshes and lagunes for some distance up; which give 
place, a mile or two before reaching the town, to firm and thickly- 
wooded banks ; the tangled undergrowth running occasionally into 
the water. The town is situated on the left bank, and its prepara- 
tions for defense were extensive and most judicious. In the lower 
end of the town, and immediately on the river bank, was an emi- 
nence of some eighty or one hundred feet in height, called Cerro 
del Hospital, on the summit of which was placed a thirty-two- 
pounder carronade, mounted on a pivot, so as to command the 
river to the extent of its range, and surrounded by a ditch. At 
the base of this hill, and a little higher up the river, at the levee or 
landing-place of the town, was placed a nine-pounder carriage gun, 
for the protection of this point. On the opposite bank of the river 
were two forts, La Pena, or the Cliff, situated on a bluff sixty 
feet in height, about a mile and a half below the town, and the 
Palma Sola — so called from a solitary palm-tree, which grew 
within it — higher up, and at the junction of a small tributary with 
the Tuspan. The first of these forts was armed with two thirty- 
two-pounder carronades — these guns had all been taken from the 
wreck of the Truxton — mounted en barbette on half circles, and 
one long-nine, in embrasure, behind a breast-work. Between these 
guns were banquettes for the service of infantry. This fort com- 
manded the downward course of the river for two miles. La 
Palma Sola, higher up, also looked down the stream, and was 



40 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



armed with two long eighteens, in embrasure. There were ban- 
quettes here, also, for infantry. Thus, it will be seen, that in order 
to approach the town, we were compelled to stem the current of 
a narrow stream, hedged in on both banks with a thick growth of 
trees and jungle, for the distance of three miles and a half, under 
the enemy's fire, and that fire a raking one. General Cos, who 
had become famous, or rather infamous, in the Texan campaign 
of Santa Anna, commanded, and had under him, some six hun- 
dred men ; ample garrisons for all these works. Commodore 
Perry, whose flag was flying on board the Spitfire, and who, as 
we have said, was leading the attack, when he came within range 
of the enemy's fire, hove to, for a moment, ordered the several 
steamers to cast off their tows, and directed the sail vessels to 
continue up under sail ; the sea-breeze had now set in, and being 
favorable, this was quite practicable. Upon the advance being 
renewed, the enemy opened upon us a sharp and well-directed 
fire from the PeTia, followed in succession by the Palma Sola and 
the Cerro Hospital. 

"When we had approached sufficiently near for this fire to begin 
to produce its effect, Commodore Perry pushed ahead gallantly, in 
the Spitfire, under a press of steam, and was followed as gal- 
lantly by the whole flotilla ; the schooners crowding their canvas, 
and plying their sweeps, while the seamen of the barges buckled 
to their oars, to see who should be " first in at the death." The 
enemy beginning now to use grape and canister — the Mexicans 
put up the nicest kind of amunition — the affair began to become 
a little serious. The whole surface of the river was rained upon 
by a profuse shower of all kinds of missiles ; and Jack began to 
think, in good earnest, that he had got into " a bit of a row." — 
But this only made him "give way" the faster, to get at his ene- 
my ; and in a few minutes, the detachment of Commander Bu- 
chanan having come up within carrying distance of the Pena (the 
Germantown was celebrated for the excellence and speed of her 
boats), Commodore Perry directed this officer "to storm." "Aye, 
aye, sir!" was the ready response of the gallant commander — 
and in half a dozen strokes more of his powerful oars, he leaped 
into the fort, followed pell-mell by his officers and men. The 
Mexicans, dropping rammers and sponges, fled in every direction ; 



Of THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



11 



and in a moment more, a loud cheer, re-echoed by the rest of the 
fleet, announced the success of the storming, and greeted the 
stars and stripes as they were planted on the crest of the Peiia. — 
In the meantime, the steamers and schooners had been pouring in 
a rapid and destructive fire, first of round-shot, and then of grape and 
canister. Commodore Perry, in the Spitfire, who had approached 
within fifteen or twenty paces of the left bank, just below the 
town, and slackened his speed, that his Commander, Tattnall, might 
deliver his fire with more effect, was now suddenly assaulted by 
a party of infantry, which had concealed itself in a jungle, and 
was suffering a good deal from its fire ; several of the officers and 
men having been shot down, at the first discharge. Seeing a 
boat from the Raritan near him, at the moment, he directed the 
officer to charge the jungle, and dislodge the enemy. This order 
was speedily obeyed, and the enemy driven from the river bank ; 
the officer, with his command, pursuing him into the town, of which 
he took possession, after having first charged and carried the 
Cerro Hospital, which commands it. The Palraa Sola, in like 
manner, was carried about this time — Lieutenant Perry, a son of 
the commodore, being among the first to enter it — and thus, the 
enemy, being beaten at all points, a general route ensued. General 
Perfecto de Cos, commandant of the Windward military division of 
the Mexican army, practicing the tactics of his able ruperior, Gene- 
ral Santa Anna, had, early in the action, taken himself out of 
" harm's way," like a good boy! As pursuit was impossible, 
and as there was no particular object to be gained by it, Commo- 
dore Perry contented himself with establishing his head-quarters 
in the town, and sending small parties to hold possession of the 
forts, until they could be dismantled, and the artillery destroyed 
or carried off. Our loss in this affair amounted to fourteen, in 
killed and wounded ; among the latter were Commander Tattnall, 
and Lieutenants Whittle, Hartstene, and Parker. Poor Parker 
died, several months after this, of yellow fever. He had already 
become much distinguished in the war, and was mourned sin- 
cerely by all who knew his excellent heart, and appreciated his 
fine intellect. 

Xotwithstanding the most strenuous efforts were made to pre- 
vent it, Jack would have his "frolic," that night, as he had 
4 



42 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



promised himself ; and perhaps it was nothing more than fair, after 
the labor he had undergone, and the " bit of a row" he had been 
in. It might be difficult to assign any reason for the difference, 
but it is none the less true, that sailors are very unlike soldiers, 
in a place carried by storm. There was no blood-thirstiness or 
brutality practiced on the inhabitants, on this occasion, by the 
seamen. They helped themselves to a glass of grog wherever 
they found it, and rolled good-naturedly through the streets, now 
and then frightening some damsel with a little awkward love 
making ; but, with the exception of their breaking into General 
Cos's house, and drinking his health, in a bottle of champagne, 
we heard of no disorders. The discipline which the seaman is 
taught when sober, he rarely forgets when drunk. Although it 
was impossible to prevent them from straggling-, they were always 
obedient and respectful when discovered by their officers and 
ordered back to their quarters. The next day, they were care- 
fully gathered together, like so many truant and penitent school- 
boys, and sent off to their respective ships ; not however before 
one or two of the poor fellows had been barbarously murdered, 
in the outskirts of the town. 

Commodore Perry remained two or three days longer, to organ- 
ize a sort of government afloat, which, without the intervention 
of a garrison in the town, should have control of the custom-house, 
and receive the dues in the name of the United States. Captain 
Breese, of the Albany, and Lieutenant Turner, of the Reefer, 
whose vessels were to remain at anchor, under the reef, were de- 
signated as the chiefs of this novel government. 

An expedition was sent up the river also, under the command 
of Capt. Forrest, assisted by Commander Buchanan, to seize any 
vessels or launches the enemy might have secreted. We were 
gone part of a day, and a night, and were not only successful in 
making several prizes, but were surprised and delighted by the 
novelty and richness of the scenery, presented to us at every step, 
on the green bosom of this placid little stream. Civilization 
seemed scarcely to have reached this out-of-the-way portion of 
the Mexican republic. With the exception of occasional corn- 
fields, the growth of which rivaled that of our richest bottom lands 
in the west, the countrv seemed an unbroken wilderness. The 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



43 



Indian built his thatched hut of reeds on the bank of the stream, 
and paddled his primitive canoe, precisely as he had done in the 
days of the "conquest ;" and with a little assistance from fancy, 
we might have transported ourselves back three centuries, "without 
doing violence, except in point of time, to historical propriety. — 
These simple people had heard the big guns below ; and having 
received awful accounts from the flying soldiery, of the blood- 
thirsty doings of the terrible Americanos del JSTorte, in the town, 
they generally fled at our approach, leaving their corn-fields and 
rude huts alike at our mercy. We bivouacked in a corn-field, as 
the night set in, and so far availed ourselves of the privileges of 
conquest, as to pluck as many of the delicious ears of corn, just then 
in the milk, as would feed our tired and famished seamen, who had 
been pulling their oars unremittingly for the last six or eight hours. 
The owner, whom we had hoped to conciliate and make some tri- 
fling present to, absconded, like the rest, upon our approach. His 
hut of reeds consisted of but a single room, with the dirt for a 
floor, and a mat or two for a bed. The pot was simmering away 
on the hearth, with the evening; meal, and the cat sat dozing- as 
quietly over the embers as though there had been no enemies 
about. We made good use of the old woman's gourd-full of 
eggs ; and very nice turkey eggs they were ; and made free with 
the contents of the pot, but molested nothing else. One of my 
sailors, who had been seized with a fancy for a trade, took down 
from a peg over the bed, rather a nice-looking sombrero — broad- 
rimmed straw-hat — and trying it on, and finding it to fit him, had 
hung his own up in its stead ; but as my eye happened to fall on 
him, just at the moment, I made him "swap back," as the boys 
say. He defended himself by saying, that he meant no harm, 
and that "a fair exchange was no robbery," all the world over. 
The river meanders through a plain, many leagues in extent ; the 
mountains west of us, among which the river takes its rise, being 
but faintly visible in the distance. Most of the plain is prairie ; 
and we saw herds of fat cattle and horses apparently wild, feed- 
ing in droves of ten or a dozen, on the river banks. With the 
plow, and the man of "progress," this lovely valley of Tuspan 
might be made a sort of Sicilian storehouse for the supply of In- 
dian corn, and other products of the tierra caliente. 



44 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



We returned to the town the next morning, and a few days 
afterward the squadron was under-way on its return to Yera Cruz. 
The following is Commodore Perry's dispatch, reporting his late 
operations, to the navy department. 

" United States Flag-Ship Mississippi, 

"At Sea, of Vera Cruz, April 24, 1847. 

" Sir : — Tuspan being the only fortified place of importance, sit- 
uated on the gulf coast, not in our possession, and conceiving it 
to be a point of honor, as well as a duty, to reclaim the guns 
taken by the enemy from the wreck of the Truxton, and mounted 
with others for the defense of the river and town, I determined on 
attacking it, and left Sacrificios in this ship, for that purpose, on the 
12th instant, having in tow the steamers Spitfire, Yixen, and 
Scourge, and the gun-boats Bonita, Petrel, and Reefer, with a de- 
tachment of three hundred officers, seamen and marines, from the 
Ohio, distributed in this and the smaller vessels. On the follow- 
ing day, we arrived at Lobos, the appointed place of rendezvous. 
The Raritan, with a detachment of one hundred and eighty offi- 
cers, seamen and marines, from the Potomac, added to her own 
complement ; the Albany, John Adams, and Germantown, with 
the bomb- vessels Vesuvius, Etna, and Heel a, had been previously 
dispatched for Lobos, where they arrived in good time, and were 
subsequently joined by the Decatur. 

" On the 15th, all the vessels left Lobos for the anchorage, 
under Tuspan reef, but were separated during the night by a 
norther. Having again concentrated, on the morning of the 17th, 
the whole of that day was employed in lightening the small ves- 
sels, in sounding and buoying the channel of the bar, and in other 
preparations for ascending the river. 

"The following morning (the 18th), the bar was safely crossed 
by the steamers and gun-boats, with about thirty barges filled 
with detachments from the different vessels at anchor outside, 
having with them four pieces of artillery. 

"After crossing the bar, I hoisted my flag on board the Spit- 
fire, and immediately led up the river to the attack ; the steamers 
having the gun-boats and barges in tow, until we got into the range 
of fire of the enemy, when I ordered them to cast off ; the gun- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 45 

boats to follow up the river under sail; and the detachments in the 
barges to land with the artillery and storm the forts and town. — 
These orders were executed with extraordinary rapidity, while 
the flotilla continued its course up the river, and driving, by its 
well-directed fire, the enemy from his defenses. 

" The dispositions of the enemy for defense were judicious ; they 
consisted of two forts on the right, and one on the left bank of the 
river, with positions well selected for commanding the reaches of 
the stream. They had seven guns mounted, and detachments of 
infantry firing from the forts and the thick chapparal along the 
margin of the left bank. 

" General Cos, chief of the Windward military division of the 
Mexican army, was in command, and had with him, as is believed 
from the evidence of his order-book, about six hundred and fifty 
rank and file. 

"But if the dispositions for defense were judicious, the defense 
itself was feeble ; though, had it been more obstinate, the results 
would have been the same, for I cannot exaggerate, the intrepidity 
of our officers and men, or say too much of the spirit that ani- 
mated them. 

" The Truxton's guns were brought off, and the others destroy- 
ed ; the forts were also destroyed. 

"Our loss in the attack has been small — fourteen killed and 
wounded. The inclosed papers, lettered A, B, C, and D, will fur- 
nish all necessary details. 

" The Albany and Reefer have been left to watch Tuspan ; the 
Hecla is ordered to blockade Soto de la Marina ; the Etna to oc- 
cupy the river Tobasco ; and the Vesuvius and Porpoise, the port 
of Laguna ; while the Germantown is scouring the coast north of 
Lobos. 

" I am, sir, with great respect, your most obedient servant, 

"M. C. Perry, Comm'd'g Home Squadron. 
"Hon. John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, Washington." 

On the same day on which our sharp little skirmish occurred at 
Tuspan, the great battle of Cerro Gordo was fought ; the army 
seeming determined to monopolize the attention of the press and 
the country, to the exclusion of its less fortunate brethren of the 



46 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



naval service. We had hoped, before we heard of this event, to 
have had our more humble exploits heralded forth to the public 
in conspicuous editorials, and with capitals, but we scarcely attained 
the dignity of the poet's corner, in the village newspapers. Sic 
transit — the reader knows the rest. 

I have now arrived at that period, in my memoirs, where it will 
become necessary for me to take a temporary leave of the squadron ; 
in which I had served nearly two years, and join General Scott's 
head-quarters, at Jalapa. The reader has probably not forgotten 
the fate of Passed-Midshipman Rogers, who was captured, as he 
has been informed, while making, with Dr. Wright of the Somers, 
a daring night reconnoissance of the enemy's powder magazine, on 
the main-land, near the little island of Sacrificios. This young 
officer, who, contrary to all the laws of war, had been seized as a 
spy, had been kept for some time in close confinement in Vera Cruz ; 
was marched thence to the famous castle of Perote (the Bastile of 
Mexico), where he had been again confined ; and whence, after the 
battle of Cerro Gordo, he had been removed to the city of Mexico. 
This harsh treatment created a good deal of sympathy for him in 
the United States, and coming to the notice of the president, he 
resolved to make a special protest against it to the Mexican govern- 
ment, and to threaten it with retaliation, in case it should dare to 
execute its threat of treating its prisoner as a spy. The ground 
on which the Mexican government based its pretension of thus 
treating the passed-midshipman was, that he had been taken in 
disguise, which was not the fact. He had indeed, proposed to me 
that I should permit him to make the reconnoissance by day, in 
the undress of an English passed-midshipman, or mate, but I had 
objected to it on the very ground, that if captured in this dress, 
he would subject himself to be treated as a spy. I had, therefore, 
required both him and Dr. Wright to go armed, and wear their 
appropriate uniforms, which they had done — throwing over all, 
their pea-jackets, to guard themselves against the night air. Com- 
modore Perry having received instructions from the Hon. John 
Y. Mason, then secretary of the navy, directing him, in the name 
of the president, to send a special messenger to the city of Mexico, 
armed with the protest above mentioned, selected me for that ser- 
vice, and sending for me on board the flag-ship, explained to me 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 47 

his views and intentions in the premises. I was but too happy, as 
the reader may suppose, to be made the means of wresting my 
late gallant subordinate, from the clutches of the enemy, and at 
the same time to become a looker on, and a follower, from an 
humble distance, of that great army which had already rivaled, 
and was about to surpass, the fame of Cortez. The halls of the 
Montezumas ! there was a romance in the idea, which fired my 
imagination, and prevented me from sleeping that night, when I 
retired to my now lonely and distasteful state-room, in the ward- 
room of the Raritan. I was up betimes, next morning, forthwith 
summoned the gunner to prepare me revolving pistols, cartridges, 
cutlasses, and other murderous implements, and sent for my lazy 
lout of a boy, and directed him to pack up my kit in double quick 
time, as I was off to the " Halls of the Montezumas !" Commo- 
dore Perry having given me leave to take one of the young 
seamen of the squadron along with me, as an attendant and sort 
of sub-aid-de-camp, I selected Francis Seymour, a shrewd and 
courageous lad of about nineteen, who accompanied me in all my 
wanderings, passed through various adventures "on his own 
hook" beside, and finally returned with me to the squadron. 
About ten o'clock, a. m., Commodore Perry having sent me the 
following instructions, I took a hasty, but affectionate leave of my 
messmates, embarked on board the steamer Vixen, and that night 
slept in Vera Cruz. 

"IT. S. Flag-Ship, Mississippi, 

6 'Anton Lizardo, April 28th, 1847. 
"Sir : — Having been made fully acquainted with the intentions 
of the United States government, respecting the position in which 
Passed Midshipman R. C. Rogers has been placed by the Mexi- 
can authorities, and of the mission with which you have been 
intrusted, I have to direct that you proceed with all practicable 
dispatch, to the head-quarters of General Scott ; and, after deliv- 
ering into his hands, the communication addressed to him, take 
his instructions as to the most advisable means for you to adopt, 
to enable you to present, in person, the dispatch addressed to the 
minister of foreign relations of Mexico ; a course which I should 
prefer ; or if it be impracticable for you to penetrate safely, to the 



48 general scott's campaign 

seat of government, to take such measures as to secure the safe 
and speedy delivery of the dispatch to the functionary to whom it 
is addressed ; in which latter alternative, you will forward it, with 
a communication from yourself, notifying your intention of wait- 
ing at the head-quarters of the army for the reply. 

" Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 

" M. C. Perry, Comm'd'g Home Squadron. 
" Lieut. Eaphael Semmes, United States Navy." 

The following is a copy of Commodore Perry's letter to Gene- 
ral Scott, asking his favorable attention to the object of my 
mission, and requesting of him the requisite assistance to enable 
me to carry out the views of the president. 

"IT. S. Flag-Ship, Mississippi, 

"Anton Lizardo, April 28th, 1847. 

"Sir: — I have received instructions from the secretary of the 
navy, under date of the 27th ult., directing me, in the name of 
the president, to protest against the unjust and cruel pretension 
of the Mexican government, to hold Passed Midshipman R. C. 
Rogers in rigorous confinement, and to try him %s a spy — and I 
am instructed to signify the intention of the president, to resort to 
the severest measures of retaliation, unless that young officer is 
immediately placed upon the footing of a prisoner of war ; and as 
such, held entitled to an early exchange. 

" The urgency of the order to carry out these instructions in the 
most prompt and expeditious manner, has induced me to dispatch 
my communication (a copy of which is inclosed) by a special 
messenger, and Lieutenant Semmes, late commander of the 
Somers, to which Mr. Rogers belonged, has been intrusted with 
the duty. 

" He has instructions to apply to you, for the proper means of 
placing himself in communication with the advanced posts of the 
enemy, that he may pass on to the present seat of the Mexican 
government — if so permitted — there to present, in person, the de- 
mand for the release of Mr. Rogers. I shall be greatly obliged, 
if you will give the necessary orders for advancing Lieutenant 
Semmes, safely on his way — and I would respectfully suggest, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



49 



whether in the event of failure of the object of the mission of Lieut. 
Semmes, the release of Mr. Rogers may not be stipulated for, in 
whatever terms of capitulation, or exchange of prisoners may next 
be entered into with the enemy. 
" With great respect, 

I have the honor to be your ob't serv't, 

" M. C. Perry, Comm'd'g Home Squadron. 
" Major- Gen. Wistfield Scott, General-in-chief U. S. Army." 

Arriving in Yera Cruz early in the day, I presented my requi- 
sition upon the quarter-master's department for a couple of horses, 
with their accoutrements; went to the stables and selected them; 
provided myself with one or two traveling necessaries, and other- 
wise put things in train for my departure the next day. There had 
been some guerrilla warfare along the road; but as yet, it had not 
become so serious, but that a small escort would be sufficient. I 
contented myself, therefore, with a detachment of twenty mounted 
Tennessee rifles, whom the governor, Colonel Wilson, kindly 
caused to be detailed for the purpose. I dined at the Casa de 
Diligendas, a hotel kept by a surly old Scotchman, who had 
scarcely regained his good humor since the bombardment ; his 
house having suffered from the explosion of one or two shells, 
and Tattnall, with his musquito fleet, having shattered some of his 
doors and windows. His table was now crowded with hungry 
officers ; and he seemed to be making up for what little he had 
suffered, by reaping a rich harvest from his late enemies ; all of 
whom he charged war prices, and to whom he gave war fare. 
Poor Parker dined with me here for the last time. He was on 
shore recruiting himself, after much suffering from his wound, re- 
ceived at Tuspan. 

It was late, the next day, before we got off ; my volunteer es- 
cort having many little arrangements to make, and many last 
things; those troublesome impediments to the commencement of 
a journey, to think of. We were finally mounted, however ; 
Seymour and I, on heavy cavalry horses, with warlike -looking 
holsters in front of our saddles, cutlasses girded round our waists, 
and a bountiful supply of serapes — blankets of the country, fanci- 
fully figured — and edibles for the road. We passed out at the 
5 



50 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



Garita de Mexico — city gate, on the Mexican road — about five 
o'clock in the afternoon, and for sometime followed the beacli ; 
on which were lying high and dry on the sands, the wrecks of 
several transports, that had been driven on shore — some of the 
seamen having perished — in the terrible norther of the 26th of 
March, the day of the surrender of the city. Numbers of people 
were flocking into the town, having recovered somewhat from 
their fright ; horses, donkeys and mules freighted with men, wo- 
men and children, and various household effects, forming lively 
and picturesque cavalcades. We now struck into the country, 
leaving behind us the magnificent ocean ; on which Seymour and 
I both turned to gaze, it might be, for the last time, and followed 
over sand-hills and through ravines, dotted with gnarled and 
stunted trees ; the more humid spots being covered with an under- 
growth of vines and thorny shrubs — a distance of nine miles ; 
when we entered the little village of Santa Fe, consisting of a 
cluster of huts, thatched with the palm-leaf, and blackened by the 
weather. Here we came up with a wagon-train, which had 
halted for the night. As I had been requested to join this train, 
and give it the protection of my escort, I halted also, for the 
night, and was glad to take shelter from the drizzling rain, through 
which we had ridden for the last half hour. The alcalde, whose 
hut was only distinguished from the rest by being a little larger, 
and having more dirt for the floor, had no beds to give us — in- 
deed, we had wisely made up our minds to forego this luxury for 
the future — but he gave us what was the next best thing in a 
rainy night — a dry plank in the loft. Here I am in this loft, jot- 
ting down by the dismal light of a farthing candle, stuck in its 
own grease, on the top of an ancient chest-of-drawers, these veri- 
table memoirs ; and as comfort is comparative, am congratulating 
myself on the prospect of a quiet night's sleep — that is to say, 
when I get my coffee, which the alcalde is preparing in the 
kitchen, with his own hands. I had scarcely unharnessed myself, 
and handed my horse over to Seymour, when a villain stole one 
of my revolvers, which I had carelessly laid down on a bench. 
With the assistance of the alcalde, whom I summoned from the 
kitchen fire, to act in his magisterial capacity, I soon got on the 
track of the rogue, however; and coming upon him just as he had 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



51 



fired one of the barrels in the road, to see how he liked it, I seized 
him, to his great astonishment — it was dark — and made him de- 
liver up. I am sorry to add that the scamp was one of our Anglo- 
Saxon teamsters, picked up, perhaps, somewhere in the purlieus 
of the " Bowery. " In consideration of his blood, and of his being 
one of the heroes of Mexico, I released him from other penalty 
than a sharp reprimand, enjoining him to remember, for the 
future, however, his long and honorable descent all the way from 
the Danish pirates, who were robbers of land only. Seymour and 
I appropriated to ourselves, when it was time to retire, a couple of 
spare cot-frames, which we found in the loft; and with the assistance 
of our india-rubber traveling-bags for pillows, and our serapes, made 
ourselves very comfortable beds, on which we soon fell asleep, 
lulled by the pattering of the rain on the palm-leaves of the roof, 
the occasional chattering of a guinea-fowl, and now and then a little 
of the national music of the country — the braying of a donkey. 
I awoke several times during the night, as some one of these am- 
bitious little animals, with a more sonorous sound-apparatus than 
usual, would endeavor to outdo his companions ; and as often as I 
awoke, I heard the merry voices of our volunteers and teamsters, 
over their little camp fires in the street, now singing short 
snatches of some favorite song, and now discussing the politics 
of their native country, and the merits of the Mexican war. As 
I dozed away again, the words, Texas, Rio Grande, Mr. Polk, and 
General Scott, intermixed with 

fi Molly is the gal for me V 3 
would strike with dying and dreamy cadences on the tympanum. 
These signs of vigilance assuring me that there was no danger of a 
surprise from the enemy, I slept with quiet nerves, and undisturbed 
by the hum of a single musquito; by which persevering little 
insects I had been nearly bitten to death, the night before, in Vera 
Cruz, notwithstanding the protection of a somewhat dilapidated 
musquito bar. A few fleas, those tenants-in-fee, of every Spanish 
house, made my acquaintance early in the night, but I was too 
weary to regard them. I was aroused, at early daylight, by the 
general stir in the camp, and by the shrill voice of the lieutenant 
in command of the infantry portion of the detachment, calling his 
men to arms, preparatory to a movement. Seymour had already 



52 



GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



arisen, and having made interest with the alcalde in behalf of the 
commandante — the high-sounding Mexican title he began now to 
give me, when he wished to make me appear important, soon 
appeared with a smoking cup of coffee, and an earthen brasero, 
with a live coal in it, at which, according to Mexican custom, I was 
expected to light my cigar, as soon as I had swallowed my coffee. 

Having permitted the wagons and the infantry escort, to precede 
us a short distance, we mounted, and bidding adieu to the alcalde 
and his hospitable loft, rode briskly forward, overtaking the train 
in about half an hour. It was delightful to inhale the morning 
air, as it came to us, lowered several degrees in temperature by 
the preceding night, and charged with the dewy perfume of flower 
and shrub. The road had become sensibly better — the track 
being quite firm, and the scenery around, by contrast with the 
dreary sand-hills and arid plains through which we had hitherto 
passed, really enchanting. As yet, there was no forest, but here 
and there, on the slopes of the hills, in the valleys, and by the 
margin of an occasional stream, clumps of palm, and other tropi- 
cal trees, of new and beautiful foliage, appeared — all looking fresh 
and green after the rain of the previous night. The cleared spots 
were just putting forth their first offering of grass to the rainy 
season, now commencing in the low-lands, and herds of cattle 
were grazing quietly in the distance — lending an air of peace and 
rural quiet to the scene, scarcely in keeping with the idea, that an 
invading army had passed over the route, only a few days before. 
The only signs of war, beside the clanking of sabres and the jing- 
ling of spurs, in my own cavalcade, were occasionally a broken 
wagon, and a dead horse or mule, lying in the middle of the road. 
Indeed, I had frequent occasion to remark upon the destruction 
of quarter-masters' property along the whole route, arising from 
the incompetency of wagon-masters, the carelessness and drunk- 
enness of teamsters, and the general want of organization, and 
accountability, in the corps. At Vera Cruz, I had equally noticed 
this — piles of valuable stores having been exposed there, for days, 
on the beach and elsewhere, to the depredation of thieves, and 
the destruction caused by wind and weather. But this is one of 
the penalties which republics pay, more than any other forms of 
government, for the want of a precedent military organization sufn- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



53 



oiently large to embrace all the purposes, and cover all the 
requirements, of war ; and the penalty is, no doubt, the lesser evil 
of the two. The road again becoming heavy after we had tra- 
veled a few miles, several of the wagons lagged behind, and we 
were obliged to halt, to wait for them. We turned out of the 
road to the right, and hitching our horses under some fine shade- 
trees, that grew on the banks of the little river, San Juan, whose 
clear and rapid stream went tumbling and brawling over its stony 
bed, we unpacked our haversacks, and spreading their contents 
on the green sward, made our first camp breakfast. We whiled 
away several indolent hours here, waiting for the wagon-masters 
to bring up their rearward teams ; and while we were waiting, 
General Pillow, who was descending to Vera Cruz with a small 
escort, joined us. He was just from the army, and gave us many 
items of intelligence, which we had not previously received. He 
had been wounded slightly at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and was 
returning home on temporary leave. I had the pleasure of being 
the first to inform him of his having been promoted to the rank 
of Major- General. I was struck with the youthful appearance 
of this gentleman, he not being over thirty-five. He was of the 
middle size, with a light and agile figure, handsome countenance, 
with expressive black eyes, and conversed with ease and fluency. 
He afterward acquired much reputation in the Mexican war — a 
reputation which will read well for him in history, long after the 
slanders of those who were jealous of his fame, shall have passed 
away and been forgotten. It should be remembered, too, that 
more or less jealousy existed in the regular ranks, against the 
volunteers, and that it was this feeling which prompted many of 
the newspaper attacks of the period. When we consider that 
General Pillow had been advanced from the walks of civil life — 
he was a member of the bar in Tennessee — to the high and 
responsible position of a major-general in the army, the exercise 
of whose functions calls for so much and so various military talent, 
we cannot but admit that he commanded his division with great 
success, and that he molded the heterogeneous materials, with 
which he had at first to operate, into a well-ordered, martial pha- 
lanx, who reflected much credit both upon their general and their 
country. 



CHAPTEK III. 



Joubney continued — Hacienda of Mango de Clavo. the residence of Santa 
Anna — The Mexican litera — The fair Jalapenas — Dead body of a sol- 
dier — Night encampment and an alarm — Arrival at the Paso de Ovejas, 
and interview with the alcalde — The author and his horse — Arrival at 
Puente Naeional, and encampment in another of the houses of Santa 
Anna — View from the height of the Cuesta de la Calera — Traces of war visi- 
ble on the road — Arrival at Plan del Rio, in the vicinity of Cerro Gordo — The 
place of encampment preceding the battle — The hospital and the graves 
of the common soldiery — Description of the battle of Cerro Gordo — Con- 
tinuation of journey, and arrival at Jalapa. 

In the afternooon we were again in the saddle. The teams 
being composed of the small horses and mules of the country, 
made slow work of it, and frequently stalled— although their loads 
did not average more than about eight hundred pounds — some- 
times rendering it necessary for us to abandon a wagon altogether, 
throwing away all the heavier articles, with, w^hich it was laden, 
and transferring the lighter ones to other teams. In the course 
of the afternoon we passed the first hacienda — country estate — 
we had yet seen. It burst upon our view as we were winding 
our way up the first considerable eminence we had ascended. It 
was the celebrated Mango de Clavo, the favorite country-seat of 
Santa Anna, to which he has been wont, in the intervals of his 
power, to retire to plot fresh treason against the ill-fated republic. 
The mansion-house was of stone, of considerable extent, and some 
architectural pretension, and looking out from a beautiful grove 
of forest trees, by which it was partially embowered, commanded 
a view of an extensive valley, covered with rich grasses, and the 
first cornfield we had passed. The plain was dotted with clumps 
of trees, in the meadows between which, were grazing numerous 
herds of cattle, and some horses. Here we came across the first 
fruit, also, which we encountered in our journey — the Xicaco plum, 
growing in a wild state. We afterward found many of the fields 
< 54) 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN. 



55 



on the way-side, inclosed by hedges of these trees, and had only 
to ride beneath them to gather the fruit from their overhanging 
branches, without alighting from our horses. We passed on the 
road two clumsy liter as (the litera is a vehicle composed of a sort 
of sedan chair slung between two long poles or shafts projecting 
before and behind, and secured together by transverse pieces let 
in by mortice) carried by mules rudely harnessed, in which were 
seated two fair Jalapenas, mother and daughter, traveling from 
Vera Cruz to Jalapa, without other attendants than the drivers, or 
rather riders, who bestrode the foremost mules, and two or three 
boys in the rear, who brought up relays of fresh animals. The 
daughter was so beautiful, that I was afraid to do more, than 
admire her from a respectful distance ; but I rode up alongside the 
mother, and entered into conversation with her, being curious to 
know something of her sensations in the presence of my mounted 
Tennesseeans, who with their long beards, slouched felt hats, and 
clanking sabres, were savage enough, in appearance, to alarm a 
stouter heart. To my question as to whether she was not afraid 
to travel thus alone, on a road infested with the barbaros del norte — 
barbarians of the north — she replied with a quiet smile, full of 
composure, "No senor, ninguno" — "No sir, not all" — a compli- 
ment which was highly gratifying to me, as an American. 

Soon after leaving the fair Jalapenas, we passed a sight of a 
very different kind — the dead body of one of our soldiers, who 
had been killed in a skirmish, a few days before, while escorting a 
train. The country now became more generally wooded, as we 
advanced ; the cactus abounded in many beautiful and novel 
varieties, and the gum guaiacum, with its yellow blossoms, gave a 
cheerful aspect to the landscape. We occasionally passed magni- 
ficent shade trees on the road side, inviting the sun-burned 
traveler to pause and rest his weary steed ; which invitations we 
frequently accepted, as we were obliged to make many halts to 
wait for the train. These trees were loaded with a profusion of 
white flowers, whose fragrance it was delicious to inhale. Just as 
the sun went down, we turned off the road to the right, and. 
encamped for the night, on the bank of a small stream, which we 
had just crossed. We had, as yet, traveled but eighteen miles 
from Vera Cruz, and were still twelve miles distant from the 



56 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



Puente Nacional. I alighted from my horse quite unwell, and 
not at all pleased with the idea of spending the night in the woods, 
without a tent; but there was no alternative, and so I set to work, 
with the assistance of my man Friday, to make the best prepara- 
tions I could for the emergency. Selecting the shelter of a couple 
of small trees, whose branches, interlacing overhead, formed a 
sort of canopy sufficiently dense to protect me from the dew, I 
spread my horse-blankets and serapes on a pile of leaves, and slept 
as comfortably as I could have done in my state-room, on board 
the Raritan ; barring the assaults, during the night, of a score and 
more of ticks, which seemed to be remarkably hungry. As for 
supper, Seymour and I, with that conditional familiarity, which 
such occasions will beget, each cooked his own — that is to say, we 
toasted a beefsteak on the point of a forked stick, and made our- 
selves an excellent cup of coffee, in a tin pot. The crickets, the 
tree-frogs, and the catydids, with an occasional whippowil, and 
screech-owl, sang their lullaby all night long; while the numerous 
fireflies illuminated the dark recesses of the woods with their tiny 
but brilliant lamps. We were alarmed, toward midnight, by the 
firing of one of our pickets upon a horseman, traveling at a rapid 
rate, who did not seem disposed to halt until forcibly brought to, by 
the whiz of a musket ball near his ear. This midnight traveler 
proved to be Don Rafael Boraza, the courier attached to the 
English embassy at the capital. He was bearing his monthly 
dispatches for the steam packet at Vera Cruz. Upon his making 
himself known, we permitted him to depart immediately. Don 
Rafael has become somewhat remarkable, in Mexico, for the rapi- 
dity and regularity of his trips between the capital and Yera 
Cruz. For twenty years past, he has been in the habit of making 
this distance — two hundred and fifty-two miles — on horseback, in 
thirty-six hours ! In the whole of this time, he has never lost a 
single trip ; and such is the prestige attending John Bull and his 
agents, in all parts of the world, that he has never been molested 
by the bandits, who infest the roads, and who have laid their un- 
scrupulous hands upon almost everybody else. 

I was aroused, soon after daylight, by the general stir in the 
camp, although the dilatory wagon-train delayed our departure 
until after nine o'clock. One or two of the teams had broken 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



57 



down, and been left several miles in the rear, the previous even- 
ing, and it became necessary that they should be brought up, 
before we could proceed. The country now became more hilly 
and arid, and we soon left behind us the agreeable verdure by 
which we had been surrounded. The ground, in every direction, 
was covered with loose bowlders of blackened rock, that seemed 
to have been belched forth upon the desert of sand, in ages long 
gone by, by volcanoes now become extinct ; and a parched and 
stunted vegetation of tree and shrub, struggling for very exis- 
tence in the pinching drowth — the periodical rains had not as 
yet penetrated so far from the coast — scarcely sufficed to relieve 
the dreary prospect, with the sign of vegetation. The cactus, 
the gum-guaiacum, and their almost leafless companion, the 
Xicaco plum, formed exceptions to this general prevalence of 
sterility, and defied alike the scorching rays of the sun, and 
the withering drowth ; and we could not but admire the apparent 
design of Providence, in spreading this latter tree, with a profuse 
hand, through so sterile and sun-burned a district ; as if to refresh, 
with its tempting fruit, the famishing traveler. The substratum 
of this region is limestone ; and where the road has been denuded 
of sand and vegetable decomposition, it has been pulverized to an 
impalpable powder, which lies, in some places, six inches thick. 
Upon this the sun beats down with a fierceness, that makes both 
man and horse quail beneath it. About noon we reached the little 
village of Paso de Ovejas — Sheep Pass — situated on a small 
stream, which had been dwarfed by the drowth, into a mere thread 
of the most limpid water. Here we halted, for a few minutes, to 
water our animals and to concentrate our train. I found that I 
was quite an object of admiration in all the small villages we 
passed through, or rather, that my horse was. The fact is, being- 
no judge of horse-flesh myself, I had intrusted the selection of 
my steed to a former shipmate, who, many years before, had been 
a brother midshipman with me, in one of our frigates, but who, 
having left the service for some cause, had become an attache of 
the quarter-master's department in Vera Cruz. My late ship- 
mate, although he professed to be a connoisseur in animals, had 
mounted me on the very largest and clumsiest horse he could find 
in the camp. He was, indeed, a monster, standing, I am afraid 



58 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



to say, how many hands high, and with legs little less in circum- 
ference than those of an elephant. It was with the utmost diffi- 
culty I could clamber up his immense sides ; and Seymour, instead 
of holding my stirrup for me, as in duty bound, as a faithful ser- 
vitor of a knight errant, was obliged to boost me up into my saddle. 
Sitting astride this monster, with a most uncomfortable expansion 
of crotch, armed with a small battery of artillery in front, and 
having a huge roll of blankets and pea-jackets strapped on behind, 
the simple Indians would gather around me, as children are wont 
to do around an elephant at a menagerie — it must be remembered 
that the Mexican horses are mere ponies — and regard my steed 
with somewhat the same astonishment. Without the aid of Sey- 
mour's title, they invariably ran out to me with the largest and 
coolest calabashes of water, and senored me with a reverence of 
which my horse would, no doubt, have been exceedingly proud, 
could he have understood what was going on. 

One of our wagons having broken down just before we reached 
this place, I sent for the alcalde, and put it and its contents under 
his charge ; exacting of him the most solemn promises, which he 
rendered me with a profusion even greater than I desired, that he 
would deliver it over to the next train that should come along-. 
Of course, his "honor" appropriated it as lawful prize of war, as 
soon as I had ridden out of sight. 

We reached the Puente Xacional early in the afternoon, and 
having parked our train with suitable guards, in the Tentilla — a 
small village near the bridge — / encamjjed with my Tennesseeans, 
in General Santa Anna's residence ; an elegant stone mansion, 
with tesselated marble floors, situated on a rising ground near by, 
and overlooking the picturesque Antigua for many miles of its 
tortuous course. The scenery here, with its confluence of two 
rivers, reminded me very much of Harper's Ferry, except that it 
is on a smaller scale, and the hill sides more naked. The bridge 
is an imposing structure of substantial and well executed masonry, 
and has five arches of thirty feet each. The stream, when swollen 
by the rains, is about a hundred yards wide ; but it was now 
dwindled to a mere brook, fretting and toiling over its rockv bed. 
This is one of the strong passes on the road to Mexico, and it was 
rumored, after the capture of Vera Cruz, that Santa Anna intended 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



59 



to make a stand here. He did hold it for a few days, but finally 
fell back upon Cerro Gordo, which he deemed a stronger position. 
To my unmilitary eye, it seemed as though a hundred men could 
hold it against a host. The road, for a mile before it reaches the 
bridge, is a defile, hedged in on both sides by abrupt and precipi- 
tous heights, and is commanded, as well as the bridge itself, by 
one or more points, up which a goat could scarcely clamber. 

Toward sunset, although still quite feverish, I descended the 
steep bank of the river in the rear of my new quarters, and enjoyed 
a most luxurious bath in the classic Antigua ; a stream which has 
been indissolubly associated, by the pen of Cortez, with the renown 
of the conquerors. The house of Santa Anna was almost entirely 
stripped of furniture ; an elegant mahogany bedstead, richly 
carved and gilded, being the only memento in the room in which 
I slept, of the family of the absent chieftain. During the night 
we had a magnificent thunder-storm ; the lightning playing in 
mimic gambols over the marble pavements, and the thunder rever- 
berating with startling effect through the deserted building. The 
copious shower of rain which followed, cooled the atmosphere to 
such a degree, that we found a blanket quite comfortable before 
morning. There was no sleeping after daylight, for my volunteers 
were already astir at four o'clock, lighting their camp fires in the 
court-yard, and leading and even riding their horses through the 
"marble halls" of Santa Anna, on their way to the river to water 
them. The villains, as they rode through — sometimes in a smart 
trot — seemed to take particular delight in rattling their mess-ket- 
tles, clanking their sabres, and shouting forth snatches of song, as 
if in defiance of any genius that might be supposed guarding the 
place. Having dispatched our breakfast, and "saddled up," we 
sallied forth to renew our journey at an early hour. As I had 
discretionary power to leave the wagon train, whenever I might 
think it secure, I abandoned it at this point — twenty-eight miles 
from Jalapa — and pushed on with my twenty Tennessee rifles. 
Nothing could be more delightful than the fresh and balmy morn- 
ing air, as we commenced ascending the first range of hills. The 
rain of the preceding evening had laid the dust, and there being 
still a canopy of clouds in the heavens to protect us from the fierce 
rays of the sun, we had an agreeable ride of several hours. Santa 



60 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



Anna certainly displayed taste in selecting the Puente Nacionai as 
the site of one of his residences. Its elevation is sufficient to 
temper somewhat the heat of the tierras calientes, and it is within 
an easy day's ride of Vera Cruz. It is directly on the great thor- 
oughfare to the city of Mexico ; is surrounded by the beautiful and 
picturesque scenery of the Antigua, at its most interesting point ; 
and has a cultivated region sufficiently near it, to be within reach 
of abundant supplies. The military chieftain, from this point, 
could overlook and command, as it were, both the sea-board and 
the interior. 

The country over which we were riding was o-entlv undulating, 
with occasionally an abrupt hill. Cultivation there was none to 
be seen. Dense thickets of thorn, cactus, and bramble, covered 
the hill sides and valleys, and were the only vegetation. The 
dry and rainy seasons, in this portion of the republic, are most 
distinctly marked. It was now the latter part of the dry season, 
and the rank weeds and grass lay as dead as though a frost had 
passed over them. All vegetation, indeed, seemed as completely 
suspended as it is with us, in our northern states, in the winter 
season — the stunted trees and shrubs being nearly all divested of 
their leaves, and apparently struggling for mere existence. Pre- 
sently the rains will commence, and as the soil, even in this region 
of the boundless chapparal, is rich and productive, under the joint 
influences of heat and moisture, a new life will be given to the 
vegetable kingdom, and nature will assume once more her garni- 
ture of the glossy leaf and the green grass. 

A few miles from the Puente Xacional, we ascended the Cuesta 
de la Calera — Height of the Lime-kiln — from the top of which, we 
had an extensive and beautiful view of the surrounding country. 
We could trace, manv leagues awav toward the sea, the windings 
of the Antigua, and we, more than once, caught a view of the sea 
itself, as the fog, which was lying in wreaths along the horizon, 
occasionally lifted in that direction. The mountains, with their 
serrated outlines and fantastic shapes, and robed in their accus- 
tomed azure, were now quite distinct ; notifying us of our approach 
to those fabled highlands which had witnessed the exploits of 
Cortez, and on the first slopes of which our own gallant army lay 
encamped. But the scene was one of perfect wildness ; inanimate 



IN THE* VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



61 



nature alone being visible. There was no habitation or cultivated 
spot to be seen, in any direction, and nothing to remind us of our 
species, but the magnificent causeway on which we stood. This, 
like the Puente Nacional, was the work of the celebrated consulate 
of Vera Cruz, of which I have made mention in a former page, 
and like most of the elaborate masonry one encounters on the 
road to Mexico, is gradually tumbling into ruin, without any 
attempt, on the part of the government, to arrest or remedy the 
decay. But I mistake; there was another sight to remind us of 
our species ; for near the top of the height lay the blackened corpse 
of a soldier, in the uniform of our infantry regiments. He lay 
extended on his back, to all appearance just as he had fallen from 
the parapet of the causeway, where he had probably seated him- 
self to rest, after straggling from his company, and where he had 
been murdered by some ranchero. He had been shot through the 
head by a musket ball. This foul sight exasperated my volun- 
teers to such a degree, that I believe they would have had recourse 
to fearful retaliation, had any unfortunate Mexicans been fallen in 
with, before their angry mood had been somewhat appeased. 

Henceforth, we began to meet, more frequently, the signs of 
war on the road. The miserable huts of the natives were all de- 
serted — their late occupants having run off in great alarm at the 
approach of the terrible voluntarios of General Scott's army, who, 
they had been taught to believe, were a sort of devils incarnate, 
thirsting for human blood. I frequently had occasion, while in 
Mexico, to observe the terror with which the name "volunteer" 
inspired the inhabitants generally, and particularly the more 
ignorant lower classes; arising, no doubt, from the fact that this 
description of troops was under less discipline than the regular 
regiments ; and as a consequence, committed more excesses upon 
the population. At Vera Cruz, there had been some shameful 
outrages committed, which General Scott found it necessary to 
reprove very severely in general orders. These outrages, bad as 
they were, had, no doubt, been much exaggerated, and accounts 
of them spread broadcast through the land by Mexican letter- 
writers, interested in making us appear as odious as possible. 
But to continue our journey. Dead horses and mules, and the 
carcasses of cattle, slain for the subsistence of the army, lay 



B2 



bmbkal Scott's gampAiu 



strewed along the road; and now and then, a blackened spot 
showed where a hat had been recently burned. 

Thirteen miles from Puente Waciomd is Plan del Rio, which we 
reached about eleven o'clock. This is another of the passes which 
guard the great highway to the city of Mexico. The road runs 
through a ravine for some distance, as it descends toward the 
river, and r asses :he larrer on a sub sTandai s:one bridge — ~n::n 



battle of Cerro 
second division 
arriving on The ] 
18th. Jns: arte 



:.am or river be 



„ - ^ . 

means 



ra. rea^v r- 



arrival of the other divisions, 
:he arm 7 marched vrhhcu: 
:~ed ea:h cemranv — ?.nd 
uence of the deficiency of the 
1 obliged to construct for itself 
sed of che branches of Trees, 
orials of the privations it had 
; victory. To clear the camp- 
burn several huts, and their 
both sides of the road. Seve- 
rnemv had arnarennv briugh; 



desiroved. Ii vrs 
immediate" v arber 
on the left of th< 
had died arber b 
buried. The poo 
forgoiien : ihere I 
lingnished iron: 



aem had ai 
me crave :■ 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



6S 



in the United States, over the battle of Cerro Gordo, recked not 
of them. They were of the humble rank and file, who bear the 
brunt of wars, and are crushed beneath the wheels of the chief- 
tain's car, to which they are harnessed ! 

A few of the terrified inhabitants had returned to their homes 
at this place, and we were enabled to get a cup of coffee ; some 
of us, more fortunate than the rest, obtained also a platito of oil a 
podrida. As we always paid for whatever we consumed, the 
Mexicans on the road sides soon became aware of the fact, and 
were by no means loth to turn an honest penny, when occasion 
offered. The poor devils waited on us, on this occasion, however, 
with manifest fear and trembling — they must have known from 
the cut of their jibs, that my fellows were volunteers — not being 
sure, but that at any moment, a rap over the head with a sabre, 
might settle all accounts with them. We did not delay here many 
minutes, but pushed on, being anxious to reach the battle- 
ground. 

The pass of Cerro Gordo is four miles from Plan del Rio. Imme- 
diately upon leaving the '•Plan," the road begins to ascend, wind- 
ing its way through a narrow defile of the mountains. On the left, 
it is flanked and commanded for two miles, before reaching the 
hill of Cerro Gordo, which lies on the right of the road, at the 
upper end of the pass, by an almost inaccessible ridge, rising to 
the height of eight hundred feet. On the right it is alternately 
shut in by heights, and skirted by a dense chapparal. The ene- 
my had fortified himself on the ridge on the left, and on the hill 
of Cerro Gordo ; and had beside, established two batteries across 
the road — one at the head of the pass, near the base of Cerro 
Gordo, and another farther up the road, in the direction of Jalapa. 
His fortifications on the height on the left, consisted of a series of 
breastworks, armed with cannon, and so arranged as to command 
the road — enfilading it in many places — and each other, in suc- 
cession ; so that in the event of the first battery's being taken, the 
next in order might be opened upon it ; and so toties quoties. In 
front of these batteries, along the slope of the height, timber was 
felled, and other obstructions thrown in the way of storming par- 
ties. This position could not be flanked by the left, as the river 
of the Plan wound its wav along the base of the ridge in that 



64 



GENERAL SCOTT' S CAMPAIGN 



direction — the ridge thus forming, as it were, a tongue between 
the road on one side and the river on the other. It was neces- 
sary, therefore, either that our army should pass up the road, 
thus commanded, or flank it by the right. 

A march by the road, and an attack in front, against such for- 
midable defenses, placed as these were, in positions almost inac- 
cessible, was not to be thought of, of course. It remained there- 
fore to be seen, whether it were possible to execute a flank move- 
ment, by the right. General Twiggs, having arrived at Plan del 
Rio, as before remarked, on the 11th — Colonel Harney, of the 
dragoons, who was in advance, brushing away a body of the 
Mexican lancers — commenced his reconnoissance the next day. — 
To cover this reconnoissance effectually, he moved forward his 
whole division, to within half a mile of the enemy's first batte- 
ries. Having examined the ground in person, as well as by his 
engineers and aids-de-camp, he resolved upon pretty much the 
same plan of attack, which he afterward carried out so brilliant- 
ly, under the orders of General Scott, His Adjutant- General, 
Brooke, having discovered and partially explored a trail, to the 
right of the road, it was seen that by widening and clearing this 
trail a little, the flank movement by the right would not only be 
practicable, but quite easy of accomplishment. General Twiggs, 
believing himself strong enough to execute this movement, alone, 
resolved on attacking the enemy's position on the 13th ; but Gene- 
rals Pillow and Shields, of General Patterson's division, joining 
him on the evening of the 12th, with their respective brigades — 
much fagged and worn by the march from Vera Cruz — and ex- 
pressing a desire to take part in the battle, he deferred his attack 
until the 14th. But on the evening of the 13th, General Patter- 
son, who was bringing up the rear of his division, sent him an 
order to suspend all further operations until the arrival of the 
general-in-chief. Thus matters stood, when General Scott arrived, 
on the 15th. On the evening of the 16th, this officer gave verbal 
orders to General Twiggs, to proceed on his line of operations, on 
the right of the road, with the view of gaining the enemy's rear. 
The Cerro Gordo, or Big Hill, called by the Mexicans, in their 
dispatches, El Telegrafo, is an immense hill, of a conical form, 
rising to the height of near a thousand feet. It stands, as I have 



IS THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



65 



said, at the head of the pass, to which it gives its name, and 
formed the extreme left (our right) of the fortifications of the 
enemy. It was surrounded by two breastworks, one near the 
base, and the other near the summit, and was defended by eight 
pieces of artillery — 18s and 6s — and a numerous body of infantry. 
By its superior elevation, it commanded all the rest of the enemy's 
works, and might be regarded as the key to his whole position. 

On the morning of the 17th, General Twiggs, in obedience to 
the orders he had received the night before, put his division in 
motion. As you proceed up the pass, the road makes a bend, 
northward, just before you reach the enemy's first batteries on the 
left. Kear this point, the trail discovered by Adjutant- General 
Brooke diverges to the right. The division, formed in column, 
took this trail. About eleven o'clock, the column being in posi- 
tion, some seven hundred yards from the enemy's main works, 
Lieutenant Gardner, with a company of the 7th Infantry, was de- 
tached to occupy the crest of a hill to the left, to observe the ene- 
my's movements. While in the execution of this order, he 
became engaged with a picket of the enemy, which, although 
much his superior in numbers, he maintained himself against, 
until he was reinforced and relieved by the regiment of mounted 
riflemen — now dismounted — under Major Sumner, and the 1st 
Artillery, under Lieutenant- Colonel Childs. The enemy being 
also reinforced, to the number of something like two thousand 
men, a severe conflict ensued ; our troops driving the enemy from 
his first position, and pursuing him to a second hill, nearer the 
key-fortress of Cerro Gordo, where he made another stand. This 
hill was within grape and canister range of the enemy's batteries; 
and in the storming which ensued, our troops suffered severely. 
They nevertheless carried it gallantly, and held it in spite of all 
the enemy's efforts to dislodge them. A portion of the troops, 
under the lead of Lieutenant- Colonel Childs, hurried on by their 
enthusiasm, rushed down the hill, and gained the foot of the 
Cerro Gordo itself, where they effected a lodgment, and kept up 
a fire of musketry on the enemy's lines, until they were recalled — 
it not being intended to make the main attack until the next day. 
This gallant feat was performed by about sixty men of the 1st 
Artillery, under captains Nauman, Burke, and Capron, and 
6 



66 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



lieutenants Hoskms and Brannan, and a few riflemen under Lieu- 
tenant Gibbs. Captain Magruder, also effected a lodgment on 
another part of the hill, with but ten men, retaining his position 
in like manner, until recalled. The Rifles and 7th Infantry slept 
on the second hill, which they had stormed ; and when the roll 
was called, that night, many a brave fellow was missing from the 
ranks. To this point were brought, during the night, with infinite 
toil, a twenty-four-pounder, and two twenty-four-pound howitzers ; 
which were dragged by main strength up the hill, and planted on 
its summit. An eight-inch howitzer was also placed in position 
across the river, and opposite to the enemy's advanced battery on 
the right, by Major Burnham, New York volunteers. The piece 
was served, the next day, by Lieutenant Ripley, 2d Artillery. — 
This was the condition of things at the close of the first day's ope- 
rations. General Santa Anna believing, or affecting to believe, 
that we had already made our main attack, sent off couriers in 
haste, to announce his having beaten us at Cerro Gordo. 

General Scott, being informed of General Twiggs' movements, 
and of the positions he had gained, drew up his order of battle 
for the next day, dated at his head- quarters, at Plan del Rio, 
four miles in the rear. In this order, with great delicacy and 
tact, he seems to have intrusted the modus ojierandi, in all its de- 
tails, to his gallant and skillful subordinates. He directed Gene- 
ral Twiggs to " move forward before daylight, to-morrow, and 
take a position across the national road, in the enemy's rear, so 
as to cut off his retreat toward Jalapa." This was to be the 
main movement of the day ; in fact, the battle to be offered to the" 
enemv. ^yhile General Twiggs should be thus flanking the ene- 
my, by the right, General Pillow was directed to " march, at six 
o'clock, to-morrow morning, along the route he has carefully 
reconnoitered, and stand ready, as soon as he hears the report of 
arms on our right — or sooner if circumstances should favor him — 
to pierce the enemy's line of batteries at such point — the nearer 
the river the better — as he may select. Once in the rear of that 
line, he will turn to the right or left, or both, and attack the bat- 
teries in reverse ; or, if abandoned, he will pursue the enemy 
with vigor until further orders." We thus see, that the whole 
plan of the battle, as detailed in general orders, amounted to this : 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



67 



that General Twiggs should flank and beat the enemy on the 
right, and General Pillow on the left ; the precise points of attack, 
and other details being left discretionary with the generals. The 
confidence of the commander-in-chief was not misplaced. 

General Twiggs' division consisted of two brigades. The 1st 
brigade, under the temporary command of Colonel Harney — 
Brevet Brigadier- General Smith being sick — was composed of the 
1st regiment of Artillery, Lieutenant- Colonel Childs ; the Rifle 
regiment, successively under majors Sumner and Loring ; and the 
7th Infantry, under Colonel Plympton. The 2d brigade was 
commanded by Colonel Biley, and was composed of the 4th regi- 
ment of Artillery, under Major Gardner ; the 2d Infantry, under 
Captain Morris ; and the 3d Infantry, under Captain Alexander. 
On the night of the 17th, this division was reinforced by General 
Shields, whose brigade consisted of the 3d Illinois regiment, under 
Colonel Foreman ; the 4th Illinois regiment, under Colonel Baker ; 
and the New York regiment, under Colonel Burnett. General 
Twiggs* order of movement and battle was as follows, viz : Gene- 
ral Shields and Colonel Riley were to flank the enemy's right, and 
place themselves in the Jalapa road, some distance in the rear of 
Cerro Gordo, while Colonel Harney, with his brigade, reinforced 
by the 3d Infantry — drawn from Colonel Biley' s brigade — was to 
storm the height of Cerro Gordo itself. We are informed by 
General Scott, in his dispatch, that he suggested this latter move- 
ment to General Twiggs. 

General Pillow's brigade consisted of four regiments of infantry, 
viz : the 1st and 2d Tennessee, and the 1st and 2d Pennsylvania 
regiments, and a detachment of Tennessee horse, and a company 
of Kentucky volunteers, under Captain Williams. He divided 
this force into two storming parties, each being supported by a 
strong reserve ; and his plan of attack, was to assail simultane- 
ously, the angles of the enemy's batteries, Nos. 1 and 2, near his 
extreme right. Colonel Haskell — 2d Tennessee — and Colonel 
Wynkoop — 1st Pennsylvania — w T ere to command the assaulting 
columns, and to be supported by Colonel Campbell — 1st Tennes- 
see — and Colonel Roberts — 2d Pennsylvania. Thus, to sum up 
briefly, we have the enemy fortified in a mountain-pass of two 
miles in length — his batteries being perched on a height, extending 



68 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



in a curve, more or less regular, to the head of the pass, 
where the road debouches between this height, which here termi- 
nates, and the opposite height of Cerro Gordo. His forces 
amount to about seven thousand men — General Santa Anna says 
less — ours to about nine thousand effectives. But then, he fights 
behind breastworks, and on the tops of rugged heights, and we 
have to clamber up these heights and drive him from his fast- 
nesses. General Twiggs is in possession of a hill near Cerro 
Gordo, on which he has planted some cannon, and holds his divi- 
sion in hand for a forward movement ; and General Pillow is mar- 
shaling for the assault, on the enemy's extreme right. There is 
a force held in reserve at the foot of the pass, and General Worth 
has orders to follow and support General Twiggs, if necessary. — 
Early on the morning of the 18th, our guns on the hill opened 
upon the enemy ; and Colonel Harney, pushing forward Major 
Loring, with the Rifles, along the ravine to the left of his posi- 
tion, to engage the enemy in that quarter, and hold him in check, 
in case he should attempt to reinforce Cerro Gordo, moved for- 
ward with the remainder of his command to the assault of the 
latter. The Rifles, in taking up their position, were exposed to a 
murderous fire of grape and canister, but Major Loring executed 
his orders with steadiness and courage. Colonel Harney's column 
was also frequently under fire before it reached the base of the work 
to be assaulted. The way was exceedingly rough, through a tan- 
gled growth of mountain shrubbery, and over rocks and chasms. 
As the column approached the foot of Cerro Gordo, it was met by 
a rapid and well-directed fire of grape and canister, which cut 
down many of our brave fellows. The command was here formed 
into two columns preparatory to storming; the 7th Infantry on the 
right, and the 3d Infantry on the left, and the 1st Artillery in the 
rear of both, with orders to support them. Owing to the distance 
the men had passed over — it being near two miles — and the na- 
ture of the ground, they were already fatigued, before they com- 
menced the ascent of the height — which, as viewed from the road 
below, appears almost inaccessible — and consequently there was 
no rush — no confusion. The gallant fellows, led and encouraged 
by their gallant officers, moved on to the work before them, with 
the steadiness and regularity of a parade. As they became 



IN THE VALLEY" OF MEXICO. 



69 



exhausted from time to time, by the fatigue of the ascent, they 
halted for a few moments — the enemy, all the while, pouring- 
down upon them a deluge of destructive missiles — to regain their 
breath, and then moved on as before. The first breastwork, about 
sixty yards from the foot of the hill, was filled with infantry ; and 
as our men advanced without the least shelter, the destruction of 
life was terrible for a few minutes. But we soon carried it ; the 
enemy crossing bayonets with us for a moment or two — a very 
unusual occurrence in this war. Notwithstanding this successful 
storming of the breastwork below, the enemy continued to pour 
down upon us an animated fire from above, and showed every 
sign of an obstinate resistance. But Colonel Harney, nothing 
daunted, recommenced the steep ascent; and when within a few 
paces of the second breastwork, his men, with a shout that re- 
sounded far away over the valley, rushed into it with clubbed 
muskets, and soon made themselves masters of the entire hill ; 
unfurling from the Mexican flag-staff our magnificent stars and 
stripes, as a signal to the rest of the army of their success. In 
the meantime, General Shields and Colonel Riley, with their re- 
spective brigades, had been dispatched to continue General 
Twiggs' flank movement, and thus, turning the enemy's whole 
position, to gain his rear in the Jalapa road. This movement was 
also handsomely executed, under the guidance of Captain Lee, 
of Engineers. As General Shields was about to debouch upon 
the main road, a battery of five guns, hitherto undiscovered, and 
supported by a body of lancers, opened upon him, with grape- 
shot. The gallant general immediately ordered a charge, and 
pushing forward briskly, at the head of his men, drove the enemy 
from his guns, and effected a lodgment in the road — not, however, 
until he had been, as it was thought at the time, mortally wound- 
ed. A large body of the enemy had withdrawn to this point, 
General Santa Anna among the rest, with the view r of making 
their escape, in the contingency which had occurred. They im- 
mediately abandoned themselves to flight, and were pursued by 
Worth's and Twiggs' divisions, within sight of Jalapa. 

While these operations were going on, on the enemy's left, 
General Pillow must not be lost sight of, on his right. This gen- 
eral, when he became aware that Twiggs was engaged, had 



70 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



moved up a storming party under Colonel Haskell, of the 2d Ten- 
nessee ans, and Colonel Wynkoop, of the 1st Pennsylvanians, to 
execute his portion of the plan of attack. Colonel Haskell, whose 
regiment was the first to move, was unfortunately discovered by 
the enemy before he could place himself in position, preparatory 
to a charge; and being fired upon by grape and canister, it became 
necessary, either that he should fall back under cover, without 
executing his orders, or rush forward unsupported and unorgan- 
ized. He gallantly, but unwisely, chose the latter alternative, 
and dashed forward, at the head of his men, into the open space 
in front of the batteries. Unfortunately, this space, for the dis- 
tance of three hundred yards, was covered with the brush of a chap- 
paral, which had been cut down and suffered to remain, rendering 
it very difficult to advance. In addition to this, a battery of six or 
seven guns, which had been previously masked, suddenly blew a 
cloud of brush into the air, as it opened upon him, and began to cut 
down his men in a fearful manner. He was of necessity obliged 
to recoil, and fell back in good order under shelter, leaving behind 
him many killed. General Pillow, while organizing his attack, 
and bringing up his column, was wounded. Before the storming 
parties could be again brought into position, this officer, finding 
the enemy's fire slacken on the right, and justly supposing the 
battle to be ended, by the reversal of his position in that quarter, 
suspended further offensive operations. The enemy had, in fact, 
been beaten, and soon afterward displayed a white flag, which 
General Worth, who had followed close on the heels of Harney, 
observing — General Scott had not yet come up — he sent colonels 
Harney and Childs to hold a parley with the enemy, which result- 
ed in his total surrender. 

Thus was fought and won the battle of Cerro Gordo, which, 
barrinsf one or two mistakes, was calculated to reflect, and did 

o 7 7 

reflect, much luster upon our arms. One of these mistakes was 
the assault of Pillow, which should never have been permitted, as 
it was wholly unnecessary ; and being unnecessary, the loss which 
ensued, was a useless and cruel sacrifice of human life. We are 
told, in the dispatches, that it was intended as a diversion, and to 
hold the enemy in check ; but from the general order of the 17th, 
it seems to have been intended as a real, and not a feigned attack. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



71 



General Pillow is instructed to pierce the enemy's batteries, and 
then turn upon him, right and left, and reverse his remaining 
works. If this language meant anything, it meant that a verita- 
ble assault was intended. 

If Pillow's operation had been confined to a feint, to call off the 
enemy's attention from the main movement, it would have been 
very proper ; but to have directed or permitted him to assault 
works in front, which, beside being inaccessible, were of Gibral- 
tar-like strength, as a mere incident of the main attack, was 
plainly a great mistake, as the result proved. The whole army 
was mortified at this feature of the battle, and no men more so, 
than the brave Tennesseeans, who were forced to give ground (a 
thing so painful to the American soldier), after having been almost 
cut to pieces. 

We have seen that the Rifles, under Major Loring, effectually 
cut off all reinforcements from the enemy's right ; and if Pillow's 
brigade had been added to this force, we should have had men 
enough concentrated at this point, to have offered battle to the 
whole Mexican army, in any attempt it might have made to force 
its way to the relief of Cerro Gordo. This disposition of Pillow 
would, perhaps, have been still better than permitting him to 
make a feint. The placing of two or three pieces of artillery in 
position to " batter" the enemy's works (skillfully constructed, 
and armed with forty pieces of cannon), seems to have been as 
useless as laborious ; especially as our metal was the lightest. I 
make these remarks with great distrust of my own judgment, and 
without any design to detract, in the least, from the well-earned 
fame of the generals implicated ; but it sometimes happens, that 
military men, for want of proper reconnoissances before a battle, 
make mistakes, which they are the first to see, themselves, upon 
a closer inspection of the ground, after the battle has been fought. 
These may be mistakes of this kind ; at all events, I but give 
them to the reader for what they are worth. 

I reached the pass with my Tennesseeans, just fifteen days 
after the battle, while the blood of the slain was still reeking from 
the soil, and spent some time in riding over the different localities, 
and tracing out the locus in quo of the most important events. I 
was amazed at the strength of the whole position, and particu- 



72 GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 

larly at the strength of that part of it. which General Pillow had 
been directed to pierce by a front attack. The ground was 
strewed in every direction with the debris of the battle. Artillery 
spiked and destroyed, broken muskets, with their bayonets, ear- 
touch-boxes and belts, round-shot, and grape and canister — many 
of the latter of copper — lay in promiscuous piles, as thev had 
been left by our army. Caps and feathers, and other fragments 
of military dress, told where the unfortunate had fallen, and been 
left a prey to the vulture and the wolf. While my volunteers 
were looking over the heights on one side of the road, with that 
pride which Americans might be supposed to feel on such an oc- 
casion, a few poor Mexicans were groveling, on the opposite 
heights, for such articles of small value as they could glean from 
the wreck. Poor wretches, I could not help pitying them ! 

From the top of the Sierra, on the left, the spectator surreys 
the broken and rugged country for many miles around, and be- 
holds the blue mountains of Jalapa. The little stream of Plan del 
Rio, whose course among the hills may be traced as far as the 
eye can reach, winding its tortuous way toward the sea, passes 
immediately beneath his feet, at the bottom of a sheer precipice, 
of five or six hundred fee:. 

A black cloud or two rising in the south-east, and the distant 
rumble of thunder warning us of the probability of a wet jacket, 
we turned the heads of our horses northward, and bidding adieu 
to the wild scenery of the " Pass of Cerro Gordo," henceforth to 
be associated with the fame of our arms, and the progress of our 
race, continued our journey. It is eighteen or twenty miles from 
Cerro Gordo to Jalapa ; and the whole of this distance we rode 
through a drizzling rain, looking more like Mexican lancers, with 
our broad -brimmed oil-cloth hats, and many-colored blankets or 
serapes, which we had provided for such occasions, than Ameri- 
can cavalry. The ascent is continuous, and the road, most of the 
wav, a heavy, paved turnpike, broken into holes and gullies, in 
manv places, by the torrents of the rainy season. Fear and dis- 
trust were pictured in the countenance of every Mexican we met, 
and the huts on the road side were, as before, nearly all deserted 
"While ascending one of the hills, we met a man, his wife and one 
other woman, descending to their home at the Plan. They were 



IX THE VALLEF OF MEXICO. 73 

nearly naked, and the only property which they carried, was a 
pet dog, which the wife held in her arms, and clasped as tenderly 
to her bosom as though it had been her infant. We spoke kindly 
to them, to allay their fears, and told them they might pass on with- 
out further dread of the voluntarios. They were simple Indians. 

The same barren, thorny aspect of the country which I haye 
described seyeral pages back, accompanied us for some ten miles, 
as far as the Corral Falso — a small collection of huts. Beyond 
this, the country opened a little into field and meadow, and the 
grass began to giye evidence of a ranker growth in the preceding 
year, and of the distant approach of the rainy season — now and 
then a green blade shooting up from among the withered fern. 
We saw here, for the first time, a stone fence, although the coun- 
try, all the way from the small village of Santa Fe to this place, 
abounds in the material ; the lazy Indians of the tierras calierdes, 
preferring to picket in their little patches of plantain and banana 
with crooked sticks of the thorn, and other stunted growth of the 
chapparal. Seven miles before reaching Jalapa, we arrived at 
Encerro, another of the estates of Santa Anna. Here, as at Puente 
Nacional and Mango de Clavo, he has built himself a splendid 
country mansion, and surrounded himself by the comforts and luxu- 
ries of a country gentleman. He owns thousands of acres of the ex- 
cellent grazing lands that lie in this neighborhood, and is a sort of 
feudatory among the Indian population, who herd their cattle on 
his estates, at a given compensation per head. The Encerro is the 
boundary between the tierras calientes, and the uplands of Mexico. 
The yellow fever has never been known to originate beyond this 
limit. 

Crossing a small brook that winds its way through the valley, 
and becomes a picturesque stream a short distance below, we 
commenced a steep ascent, that gave us an extensive view of the 
surrounding scenery. Forests of small trees, among which we 
recognized the oak, began now to appear, and the general aspect 
of the country reminded me of that of our middle states. As we 
advanced toward Jalapa, a rapid and magical change came over 
the landscape, resembling more the scenic effect produced in a 
theater, than a natural transition. The thorn, cactus, and other 
denizens of the chapparal disappear. The hill sides no longer, as 
7 



74 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



in the tierra caliente, presenting their nakedness to the sun, are 
covered with a luxuriant growth of tree, and shrub, and plant, all 
arrayed in the richest and deepest tints of green. Cultivation is 
seen on every hand, and neat, white cottages, with their waving 
fields of corn, plantain and banana, dot the landscape. Limpid 
streams of the purest water, descending fresh from the Cordilleras, 
which latter seem to embrace, as it were, and smile down upon 
the favored spot, meander through the valleys ; and fruit trees and 
flowers complete one of the most charming pictures which the 
imagination of a Claude Lorraine could conceive. For two miles 
before entering the town, the road was flanked, on either side, by 
continuous hedges of shrubs, and wild vines ; both loaded with 
flowers ; and although the day was gloomy and wet, they were 
vocal with the song of birds ; our own superb mocking-bird among 
the number. While this wilderness of beauty delighted the eye, 
and gave wings to the imagination, the air came to us loaded 
with the most delicious of perfumes. My Tennesseeans seemed to 
be perfectly absorbed by the novelty of the picture ; and although 
I had beheld it before, I too, enjoyed it with a keen relish, height- 
ened by the effect of contrast ; as the mind naturally compared it 
with the arid and sterile desert we had so recently left behind us. 
The coup d'ozil of Jalapa, as it first strikes the beholder from an 
eminence in the road, is beautiful and picturesque in the extreme. 
I cannot describe it better than by comparing it to a delicate mo- 
saic set in a massive frame of emerald. No pencil could have 
made it more picture-like than it was. It sat embowered among 
the hills, in a wilderness of shrubbery, amid which the tall and 
graceful palm, with its feathery foliage, was conspicuous ; giving 
it the air of a city of the east. So much of peace and beauty 
was there in this picture, as we checked our horses in the drizzling 
rain, to gaze on it for a moment, that we could scarcely realize the 
fact, that grim-visaged war had here made his home. Our troops 
had taken possession of it some two weeks before ; and the proud 
stars and stripes now hung with dripping folds, from the flag-staff 
of the government-house. We entered the town late in the after- 
noon, and much fatigued by our day's journey, as we had ridden 
all the way from the Puente Nacional, and been twelve hours in 
the saddle. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Description of Jalapa — The market-place — The multitude, and their cos- 
tumes — The American volunteer — The luxuriance of vegetation — The pe- 
culiarity of the climate — It rains more than half the year — The exceeding 
transparency of the atmosphere — The baths — The washing establishments 
— The lavanderos and the soldiers — The author's quarters, and new mess- 
mates — Correspondence with General Scott — Arrival of Mr. Trist, as com 
missioner — A funeral ceremony — Captain Mason of the rifles, and the 
sympathy occasioned by his death. 

In the two weeks of our occupation, Jalapa had become almost 
Americanized. Already did the busy ' 'press," that pioneer of 
civilization, throw off its thousand sheets of American newspa- 
pers. Hotels, and shops filled with merchandise — the publican 
and shopkeeper had followed the army ; Brother Jonathan liking 
to try his hand at a little trade as well as glory — with sign-boards 
in broad Anglo-Saxon, were to be seen in all the streets, and even 
the daguerreotype man was giving permanence to the fleeting 
beauties of the fair Jalapenas. The streets were blocked up by 
wagons, horsemen, and foot passengers, presenting a motley crowd 
of Americans and Mexicans — the former swaggering with lighted 
cigars in their mouths, or squirting their tobacco juice from side 
to side, and the latter worming their way timidly between, and 
around their more robust conquerors. Our teamsters and volun- 
teer horsemen were the constant themes of admiration among the 
natives — the men with their stalwart limbs, unshaven and un- 
combed beards and hair, slouchy dress, and devil-may-care air, 
presenting no mean personifications of the barbarians whom they 
believed them to be — and the horses, by contrast with their little 
barbs, seeming to be weird steeds, befitting only such gigantic 
and uncouth riders. 

The market-place — not market-house ; there are no market- 
houses in Mexico — at the convergence of several streets, where 
the supplies of the finest fruits and vegetables did not seem to be 

f 75 ) 



76 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



at all diminished by the presence of several thousand additional 
mouths, was crowded all day long, by horse and foot soldiers and 
citizens, old and young, some lounging and chatting idly, for mere 
pastime, and others chaffering and trading with the country peo- 
ple — the whole presenting a most novel and picturesque tableau 
vivante. With primitive simplicity, the Indian women seated 
themselves on the paved streets, having beneath them a petate, or 
country mat, and spreading out, in little piles around them, their 
varieties of fruits and vegetables, and homely cooking and other 
utensils of domestic manufacture, would wait, with true Indian 
patience, the whole day, if necessary, until their humble stock-in- 
trade was disposed of. Close by stood the patient burro — ass — 
with his immense panniers on either side, munching a few blades 
of sacale — leaves of green Indian corn — and waiting as philoso- 
phically for the period of his release, as his mistress. Cosily 
seated beside these women, making awkward attempts to speak a 
few words of the language, were to be seen the lusty volunteers, 
regaling themselves on whatever struck their fancy, and occasion- 
ally damning the "lingo" whenever they failed to make themselves 
understood. 

Not the least interesting point of this picture, were the costumes 
of the masses here assembled. Chemise and petticoat — the latter 
frequently fancifully colored, and not coming so low, but that the 
ankle and part of the leg were visible, formed the only dress of 
the Indian women, in this delightful region, where dress was 
almost unnecessary. The petticoat was drawn, or gathered in 
ample folds about the hips, while the arms, and frequently the 
breast also, remained au naturel. If the female had an infant, 
this was slung, after a fashion of their own, on her back, where it 
seemed to repose in perfect insouciance and security ; she some- 
times carried it astride of her hip, if the child were well grown. 
The clothing of the men consisted of shirt and trowsers (generally 
of coarse cotton cloth, of the manufacture of the country), the 
latter without suspenders, and confined to the waist by a belt — 
sometimes of leather, and sometimes, more fancifully, of red or 
yellow worsted or silk. Machetes, or large knives used for the 
cutting of sugar-cane, were frequently stuck in these belts, giving 
the wearer an air of barbarian ferocity. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



77 



The costumes of our soldiers were as various as the corps to 
which they belonged, and almost as various as the individuals of 
the corps. With their usual independence, they seemed to set all 
rules of uniformity at defiance. Caps, hats of straw or felt, white 
or black, coats of all colors, and jackets and trowsers to match, 
were assumed or thrown off, at the pleasure of the individual 
wearer. I noticed one fellow, fancifully dressed, or rather un- 
dressed, in red flannel shirt and drawers, with a kinky white felt 
hat stuck jauntily on one side of his head. He was one of our 
sovereigns from the heart of Tennessee or Kentucky, and by his 
air seemed to regard himself as quite equal to the "old man" — 
the general-in-chief. Among other persons and things which had 
followed the army, was a theatrical corps. A theater had already 
been opened upon my arrival, and every night, Vera Cruz was 
bombarded, and General Twiggs and Colonel Harney stormed the 
heights of Cerro Gordo over again. It was attended by a dense 
throng of soldiers, teamsters and loafers, whose uncouth shouts 
awakened the echoes of the quaint, and erst, quiet old town, long 
after the native inhabitants had lost the sense of their misfortunes 
in sleep. 

The population of Jalapa is estimated at between five and six 
thousand, and some of the best families of Mexico reside here. 
Many of the wealthy and intelligent merchants of Vera Cruz find 
here, also, a secure and delightful retreat from the suffocating 
heats and the voraito of the tierra caliente. It being the capital 
of the State of Vera Cruz, which is one of the largest states of 
the Mexican confederacy, it is the residence of the governor, 
whose palace — a large and commodious stone building — was now 
occupied by General Scott. Many of the residences, without 
being remarkable for the stvle of their construction, or architec- 
tural adornment, are nevertheless spacious and convenient. They 
are plainly but substantially built, of a kind of sandstone quar- 
ried in the neighboring hills ; generally of but a single story, and 
with large bay-windows, jealously barred and grated, looking out 
upon, and on a level with, the street. In these windows, the 
females of the family gather during the day, and laugh and chat, 
and pursue their various domestic occupations, with primitive 
simplicity, in full view of all the passers-by, and without being, 



78 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



in the least degree, disturbed by the prying eye of curiosity. 
Flowers, in great profusion, adorn windows and balconies, and 
form tiny bowers, in which the fairer flowers of flesh and blood 
partially conceal themselves, and through which, mingled with 
their odor, the most delightful music of harp or guitar sometimes 
steals into the streets. Every house has, beside, its flower-garden, 
and Flora seems to hold here her festival all the year round. 

Jalapa is celebrated for its pretty women ; but it cannot compare, 
in this respect, with any town of the same size in our own coun- 
try. Many of the better class had decamped, it is true, upon the 
approach of our army, but we saw enough of the fair Jalapeiias, 
to assure us of this fact. They want the fairness and freshness 
of our women. To be sure, their soft black eyes, that 

"Now melt into love, now madden to crime," 
and their hair, 

"Whose glossy black would bring 
Shame to the raven's wing/' 

are beautiful features ; but nothing can compensate, in female 
beauty, for the absence of the lily and the rose. The Jalapeiias 
are sprightly in conversation, and easy, and eminently graceful in 
their manners; and these are charms which not only enhance 
beauty of person, but even compensate for its absence. A witty 
and graceful woman may be plain, at first sight, but she cannot 
long remain plain. It struck me as somewhat remarkable, that 
while the women were, in general, sufficiently robust in figure, 
and well developed, the men were puny and delicate looking. 
Robust mothers should produce robust children ; but the rule does 
not seem to hold good in Jalapa. 

The town being built on a series of hills, the scene, as you pass 
through its abrupt and sometimes precipitous streets, is ever 
changing. From the busy site of trade and barter, you pass, in a 
few minutes, into dells and recesses, where all is as quiet as a 
country village. The environs of the town are even more lovely 
than the town itself. The streets lead, in almost every direction, 
into avenues hedged on both sides by magnificent forest trees, 
of strange and rich foliage ; many of the trees being entangled 
with creepers bearing a profusion of white and scarlet flowers, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



79 



from which the merry choristers of the woods pour forth their 
melody all day long. In my rides in the neighborhood, as I have 
wound round the bases of the hills, in this wilderness of vegeta- 
tion, I have sometimes come abruptly upon valleys and vistas of 
such surpassing beauty, that I have found myself checking my 
horse unawares, to gaze upon the lovely picture. From a height 
north of the town, the view is extended far over the vallev : and 
the panorama, which presents itself from this point, is so picture- 
like, that no mere words are adequate to give the reader even a 
faint conception of it. And the panorama is equally perfect, of its 
kind, whether viewed beneath the rays of a brilliant sun, or seen 
through the wreaths of mist and cloud, which settle over the 
landscape almost every day, between one and two o'clock in the 
afternoon, during the rainy season. In the early morning, even 
during this season, there is scarcely ever a cloud to be seen in the 
heavens. The air is pure and elastic, and so perfectly transparent 
in this elevated portion of the torrid zone, that space seems to be 
annihilated. Orizaba is fifty miles distant from Jalapa, and yet 
so near does it seem, that you are tempted to give the rein to your 
horse, in the expectation of reaching it in half an hour. I could 
never accustom myself to this optical illusion, and gazed upon 
this magnificent feature of the landscape with renewed wonder, 
every day, during my stay. The sea too, although forty miles 
distant, in a bee-line, may be seen, in a favorable state of the 
atmosphere, from the point of view I have been describing. 

Jalapa has a most agreeable and equable climate. Its eleva- 
tion, four thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, 
protects it from the heats of the tierra caliente, while its latitude 
secures it against the frosts of our winters. Upon first reaching 
it from the low country, the mornings and evenings are occasion- 
ally unpleasantly cool, but after a few days' residence, one 
becomes accustomed to the change, his step becomes more elastic, 
and it is a positive pleasure to breathe the pure and bracing atmo- 
sphere. The climate is very humid — it raining constantly (after 
about one o'clock in the day), during the rainy season — five or 
six months, from June until October — and frequently during the 
remainder of the year. The cause of this humidity is very obvious. 
The sea-breeze, or south-easterly winds of the Gulf, sweeping 



80 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



over the arid plains of the tierra caliente, become highly rarefied, 
and charged with moisture ; and coming here first in contact with 
the mountains, they find their dew-point at about this elevation. 
Their condensation and dispersion in rain is, of course, the conse- 
quence. It is this peculiarity of position, that gives to the land- 
scape of Jalapa its luxuriance of vegetation, and that vivid green 
coloring to the foliage, for which it is remarkable. The equability 
of temperature has a favorable effect upon the health of the popu- 
lation. Although, as remarked, the vegetation is luxuriant in the 
extreme, its decay is so gradual, that fevers are rare. The most 
common diseases are catarrhs, which, however, are quite mild, 
and rarely degenerate into consumptions. Longevity is common — 
many old people being met with in the streets. 

One of the first luxuries in which I indulged after my arrival 
at Jalapa, was a bath. To reach the bathing establishment, 
which is situated on a hill-side, in the lower part of the town, 
you pass under a low archway of brick, leading through a row 
of houses, and emerge into a splendid flower-garden ; from which, 
amid the agreeable shade of trees and shrubs, and the perfume 
of the rose and other flowers, you look forth upon the country 
beyond, and upon the ever-present and sublime Orizaba. Around 
this flower-garden are arranged the bath-houses — neat little 
rooms, with baths of masonry, inlaid with the fanciful Dutch tile. 
Into these is let the sparkling water, which abounds everywhere 
through the city, in such proportions of warm and cold, as the 
bather may desire. While the mozo is preparing your bath, you 
pluck a bouquet to carry with you into the bath-room, or amuse 
yourself listening to the merry voices of the female bathers, who 
go in, in small parties of three or four at a time — the female bath- 
ing rooms being somewhat larger than the others — and disport 
themselves, if one may judge by the ear, like so many naiads or 
water-nymphs. A couch, clean linen, and other appliances — 
including a cup of coffee and a cigar, if you desire them— invite 
you to repose after the luxurious operation of the bath. When 
you have had your nap, which every man, with the least preten- 
sion to civilization, is expected to take, and dreamed of Mahomet 
and his houris, you sally forth from this Hesperides, a new man. 
This establishment was in great vogue, during the time I remained 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



81 



in Jalapa ; crowds of officers resorting to it every day, especially 
those who had just arrived, as I had done, from a hot and dusty 
journey through the tierra caliente. While we are speaking of 
water, I must not omit to mention, what to me was a great 
novelty — the washing establishment of Jalapa. If the reader will 
imagine one of our market-houses situated in the most lovely of 
tiny ravines, in the heart of the city, and with a stream of crystal 
water running through it, he will have a pretty good idea of this 
lavandero, as it is called in the sonorous Spanish. In each stall is 
a large flat stone, for the use of the washerwoman, sufficiently 
elevated to render the operation of washing upon it quite easy. 
The stalls are let out to the different families for a trifling sum — 
sufficient to keep the building in repair — each washerwoman 
occupying her stone for a week, when a new letting takes place. 
Hither, on wash-days, resort a promiscuous crowd of women 
and girls, of ail ages and complexions, clad in their particolored 
petticoats, and with bare feet and arms ; each one laden with the 
dirty linen of the week, to be cleansed. As washerwomen are 
chatty all the world over, our soldiers soon found their way to 
this female Babel, and seemed to be, when I visited it, on capital 
terms with the inmates; taking lessons in Spanish and love 
making, while their shirts were being washed ! A great improve- 
ment was visible, soon after their arrival in Jalapa, in the stiffness 
and glossy whiteness of their shirt collars, on parade days, and 
in the general tidiness of their appearance ; thus affording another 
illustration of the words of the poet : 

'• In peace Love tunes the shepherd's reed, 
In war he mounts the warrior's steed, 
In halls in gay attire is seen, 
In hamlets dances on the green; 
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
And men below, and saints above, 
For love is heaven, and heaven is love. 

At the base of the city meanders a small river — a branch of 
the Chachalas ; the river of the "Plan" being another of its 
branches. Just beyond this, in an extensive plain which stretches 
toward the south, is the Alameda, or public walk, with walls of 
antique and curiously-wrought masonry on either side, and with 



82 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



stone benches for the accommodation of loiterers. War, with its 
alarms, had driven away the fair creatures who had been wont to 
resort hither ; and we always found it quite deserted, as we visited 
it of an afternoon, in the hope of meeting some graceful madonna, 
armed with her mantilla and all-potent fan. Beyond this, again, 
is one of the most lovely and extensive naranjeros, or orange plan- 
tations, to be found anywhere in Mexico. A native Jalapefian is 
the master of this estate ; and with Mexican politeness, he showed 
us, during an afternoon visit we made him, over his well cultiva- 
ted grounds. As we walked with him through his stately avenues 
of orange trees, laden with the young and the ripe fruit at the 
same time, and interspersed and diversified w T ith other shade and 
fruit trees, and shrubs and flowers in profusion — the omnipresent 
campanula, or mammoth white bell-flower, among the rest — I was 
forcibly reminded of an expression which an old Spaniard had 
made to me, a day or two before, that "Jalapa es un pedazito de 
los cielos, caido en tierra" — "Jalapa is a small piece of heaven, 
fallen down to earth.'' We stopped to refresh ourselves, after our 
walk, at a picturesque fountain that leaped from the face of a 
rock, covered with moss and creepers. The water, which came 
fresh from the mountains, with scarcely increased temperature, 
gushed forth in a bountiful stream, and after dallying awhile in a 
splendid marble reservoir, sped away over the meadow, for the 
use of the stock of the hacienda. From the top and fissures of 
the craggy precipice sprung large forest trees, casting a dense and 
perpetual shade over this fountain of the Dryads. 

On another occasion we visited the manufactories of Jalapa. 
The most worthy of note among these, are several extensive fac- 
tories for the production of cotton goods. These, and other es- 
tablishments of the kind, have been built up by an excessive tariff 
of protection, amounting in fact to an exclusion of all foreign 
competition. A brief account of our visit to one of them will 
suffice for all ; and I select that of Messrs. Joseph Welsh & Co., 
an English firm. 

The factory buildings are of stone, in good style, and form a 
pleasing feature in the landscape. Crossing the bridge, over the 
stream I have described as running along the base of the city, we 
passed through a gate on the left of the Alameda, and directing 



IN THE V ALLEY OF MEXICO. 



83 



our course over the green sward that skirts the banks of the river, 
we dismounted from our horses under some fine old shade trees, 
within a few paces of the buildings ; the whirring sound of the 
machinery, and the hammering in a few workshops in the rear, 
being the only indications of their character. But for these, we 
should have taken them, such was their neatness of appearance, 
and quietude of location, for the villa of some republicanized 
hidalgo. The motive power was water, and the dam, in which 
some boys were bathing, was neatly hedged in by masonry. The 
banks were covered with a velvety green-sward, and with shrub- 
bery — objects far too poetic for so common-place an association. 
The main building was commodiously arranged, and well venti 
lated, with a profusion of windows, each one of which looked out 
upon a landscape that might have fired the imagination of a pain- 
ter. The lower story was devoted to sixty looms, while two thou- 
sand spindles were run in the upper, or second story. With the 
exception of a few foremen, the operatives were Indian females — 
women and girls of various ages, according to the nature of the 
occupations required of them. They were neat and cleanly in 
their persons, had the look of health, and were, some of them, 
quite fair and pretty. Labor is cheap, food is abundant, and with 
equal advantages as to the price of the raw material, these Mexican 
factories might compete with our own in the production of coarse 
cotton goods ; but such is the want of energy in the planter, in 
raising the raw material, and so completely is all foreign competi- 
tion excluded, that the few cotton lords who have built up esta- 
blishments of this kind, put a price three and four-fold greater 
on their goods, than similar fabrics can be purchased for in the 
United States. 

There is a rivalry, in Mexico, between the planters and manu- 
facturers, on the subject of protection ; the elections of members 
of congress, in particular districts, turn on this point ; and the con- 
sequence is, that both interests are protected. The government, 
therefore, is guilty of the absurdity, first, of excluding the foreign 
manufactured goods, in order that similar fabrics may be pro- 
duced at home ; and secondly, of rendering it impossible that these 
should be produced, by withholding a supply of the raw material 
— the Mexican cotton crop never equaling the demand, and some- 



84 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



times falling short by a third or a half. A beautiful illustration 
of the system of protection ! 

On my arrival in Jalapa, I took up my quarters, by invitation, 
with captains Irwin and Wayne of the quarter-master's depart- 
ment — Captain Irwin being chief quarter-master of General Scott's 
column. They were living in the custom-house — an establishment 
for the collection of certain duties of transit, levied on all foreign 
goods, in addition to the alcabalas already paid at the maritime 
custom-house, where they had been first entered — a commodious 
but unfurnished stone building, from which a host of Mexican 
employes had fled in affright after the battle of Cerro Gordo. 
These gallant gentlemen, in whose mess I continued for three 
months, and in whose intellectual society I spent many agreeable 
hours, did all in their power to make me comfortable. I soon paid 
them the compliment of feeling very much at home, and very 
much at my ease. Before we left Jalapa, Mr. Louis A. Hargous, 
a distinguished merchant of Yera Cruz — an American citizen — 
joined our mess, and contributed to our pleasure and instruction, 
by his fund of information in relation to the country, and his inti- 
mate acquaintance with the Mexican character. These gentlemen 
will form, henceforth, my compagnons du voyage. I had like to 
have forgotten to introduce to. the reader, Monsieur Auguste, a dis- 
tinguished French artiste, who having figured in Mr. Hargous' 
kitchen, had accompanied his master in his campaign, and now 
had the honor of having charge of our commissariat. Auguste, 
who dressed like a dandy, wore his sabre, and twirled his mous- 
tache at all the pretty girls he met, would have been offended to 
have been called a cook — but he delighted to have us style him 
an artiste gastronomique, as he certainly was. We found him a 
very important man in the campaign. 

I called on General Scott, on the evening of my arrival in Ja- 
lapa, and presented him with my letter of credence from Commo- 
dore Perry. The general did not appear at all pleased with my 
mission. He thought it entirely unnecessary, and regretted that 
Commodore Perry, instead of sending a special messenger, had 
not written to him on the subject — a word from the commodore 
would would have been sufficient, he said, to have interested him 
in the fate of Passed-Midshipman Rogers ; and finally he doubted 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



85 



the propriety and policy of having more than one channel of com- 
munication with the Mexican government. To all this, I had, of 
course, but little to reply. I had certain orders from my comman- 
der-in-chief to execute, and there was but one course for me to 
pursue — that pointed out by my instructions. He declined, for 
the present, giving me an escort to enable me to proceed on my 
mission, as he had been requested to do by Commodore Perry, 
but said that I might remain with the army if I chose ; and that at 
some future time, when he should advance nearer to the capital, 
it would probably be convenient for him to put me in communica- 
tion with the minister, to whom my dispatches were directed. 
About this time Mr. N. P. Trist arrived at Vera Cruz, clothed 
with full powers, as a commissioner, to negotiate a treaty of peace, 
whenever the Mexican government might be so inclined. It was 
the intention of the president that this gentleman should accom- 
pany the head-quarters of the army, to be ready at any moment 
to receive such propositions as the enemy might have to offer. 
General Scott, who had expected to be the negotiator of the peace, 
as well as the commander of the army which was to "conquer" it, 
was highly incensed at the appointment of Mr. Trist. He evi- 
dently considered that the executive government at Washington, in 
undertaking any negotiations not intrusted to him, had done him 
a grievous wrong. At this time, General Taylor had not been 
nominated for the presidency ; and the officers on General Scott's 
line had strong hopes of their own chiefs being the successful 
candidate. There can be but little doubt, that General Scott en- 
tertained this hope himself, after the battle of Cerro Gordo, and 
desired, in imitation of the Mexican chiefs by whom he was sur- 
rounded, to step from his camp into the presidency. If he could 
bring the Mexican war, of which the people were already be- 
coming tired, to a happy conclusion by his arms, and add to the 
honors of the soldier those of the diplomatist also, he would be 
enabled, he thought, to enter the convention with a strong pros- 
pect of success. I have much admiration for General Scott, as a 
military man, and I would be understood as speaking of him here, 
as the politician merely. These political aspirations were not only 
very pardonable, but very natural, in a man occupying his posi- 
tion, at the head of a victorious army, and with a host of parti- 



86 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



sans, at home, seeking his advancement — but he suffered his aspi- 
rations to become a little too apparent. He treated the new diplo- 
matist, on his arrival at Jalapa, with the utmost disdain. He did 
not even extend to him the common civility of an official visit ; 
which it was his duty to have done. An angry correspondence 
ensued between them ; and they continued strangers to each other 
for two months and more, until they were finally reconciled in 
Puebla, a short time before the advance of the army upon the city 
of Mexico. Mr. Trist's arrival recalled to the mind of the gene- 
ral my own less important mission. He could not dismiss the 
ambassador, but he resolved, at least, to get rid of the special 
messenger. With this view, he sent his aid-de-camp, Lieutenant 
Williams, to me, to say that I might return to the squadron, as he 
was resolved not to permit me to hold any communication with 
the Mexican government, as he was the only proper channel 
through which any negotiation for the exchange of prisoners, 
should pass. As the prisoner in whose fate I was interested, was 
an officer of the naval service, I could not see how the negotiation 
of his exchange, by an officer of the same service, or the presen- 
tation of any demand or threat of the government in relation to 
him, through the same channel, could be construed into an in- 
fringement of the prerogatives of General Scott. I felt it my 
duty, therefore, to address to the commander-in-chief — after 
having been denied an interview — the following letter, which will 
explain itself: 

" Head-Quarters of the Army, 

"Jalapa, May 8th, 1847. 
" General: — I understood you to say, in the conversation I 
had the honor to hold with you, on the evening of my arrival at 
this place, that although you had no escort then at your command, 
with which to forward me to the city of Mexico, in the execution 
of my mission, I might continue with the army in its progress ; 
and that when you should reach some convenient point, near the 
city, you would either put me in personal communication with the 
government, or send forward my dispatches. I have this morn- 
ing been waited upon by Lieutenant Williams, your aid-de-camp, 
who informs me, on your behalf, that you have changed your 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



87 



resolution on this point, and that you will not permit me to hold 
any intercourse with the Mexican government. Commodore 
Perry has been charged, by the president of the United States, to 
make a communication to the government of Mexico, with the 
nature of which you have been made acquainted. He has select- 
ed me as his agent to carry out the views of the president, and 
has directed me to apply to you for the means of executing his 
orders. With regard to the question, as to who is the proper 
channel through which this communication is to be made, I can, 
of course, have nothing to say — that must be settled by higher 
authority ; but the president has thought proper to judge of this 
for himself, and I am here, by authority of one of the depart- 
ments (mediately), as his humble agent. I have specific orders 
from my commander-in-chief, to place, personally (with your as- 
sistance), my dispatch in the hands of the minister of foreign 
relations ; or, if the Mexican government will not permit me to 
proceed to the capital, in person, to forward it, by some safe con- 
veyance, and await an answer. My object in addressing you this 
note, is to inquire whether I understand you, as deciding that you 
will not (at your convenience) afford me the facilities requested 
of you by Commodore Perry ; and that you will not permit me 
to hold any intercourse, personal or otherwise, with the Mexican 
government ? If this be your decision, as a military man, you 
must see the propriety of giving it to me in writing, in order that 
I may exhibit it to my commander-in-chief, as a sufficient reason 
for failing to execute his orders. As soon as I receive this, I 
shall hold myself in readiness to return to the squadron, by the 
first conveyance. I inclose, for your inspection, my order in the 
premises, from Commodore Perry, together with a copy of the 
dispatch of that officer to the Mexican government ; from which 
you will be able to see, that my mission cannot have, in the re- 
motest degree, any bearing upon your military operations. I will 
be obliged to you, if you will return me these papers, after peru- 
sal. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

" R. Semmes, Lieut. U. S. Navy. 
" Major- General Winfield Scott, Commander-in-chief U. S. 
Army, in Mexico. 



88 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



To this communication I received a prompt reply from General 
Scott, as follows : 

" Head-Quarters of the Army, 

"Jalapa, May 9th, 1847. 
"Sir: — I have received your note of yesterday, accompanied 
by Commodore Perry's instructions to you (original); and the copy 
of his communication to the Mexican minister of foreign affairs; 
of which you have been made a bearer, in relation to Passed- 
Midshipman Rogers, supposed by Commodore Perry still to be 
held by the Mexican government, not as a prisoner of war, but as 
a spy. And I had some days before, received by your hands, 
the letter Commodore Perry did me the honor to address me on 
the same subject, requesting that I would afford you the proper 
means of placing you in communication with the advanced 
posts of the enemy, in order that you might, if permitted, 
pass on to the seat of the Mexican government ; and there to 
present, in person, the demand for the release of Mr. Rogers. — 
Commodore Perry adds, in his communication, the suggestion 
whether, in the event of the failure of your special mission, Mr. 
Rogers may not be released by capitulation, or exchange, etc., etc. 
Premising, that I have as yet addressed not a line to any political 
functionary of Mexico; if, in fact, there be any government in the 
country; and that I have all along intended, at the proper time, to 
propose for the exchange of Passed-Midshipman Rogers, with 
other Americans taken prisoners of war, in the north-eastern part 
of this republic, I think myself, on information, though not offi- 
cial, authorized to say, that the whole of the papers you have 
brought to my notice, have had their origin in a misapprehension. 
Mr. Rogers, for many weeks past, has not been held a prisoner 
for any ignominious act, but as an honorable prisoner of war, at 
large on parole, within the city of Mexico. On taking leave of 
many of the higher Mexican prisoners of war, paroled at Vera 
Cruz, I called their attention to the then reported confinement of 
Passed-Midshipman Rogers, on the false allegation that he had 
been captured in the violation of the laws of war ; and I added, 
in the most emphatic terms, if any hardship, injury, or punish- 



EN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



89 



ment should be sustained by Mr. Rogers, on that false allegation, 
that I would inflict signal retaliation on the next Mexican officers 
whom the fortune of war should place in my power. Before the 
15th ult., I had already heard, from whom I considered credita- 
ble persons, that Mr. Rogers had been released from the Castle 
of Perote, and sent up with a single Mexican officer, both on 
horseback, to the capital, as a prisoner of war. This information 
was confirmed by several of the principal Mexican officers, cap- 
tured at Cerro Gordo ; and again and again since by respectable 
travelers passing through this place from the capital. I regret 
that Commodore Perry has thought it necessary to send you, as 
his special messenger, to treat with the Mexican government on 
the subject of Mr. Rogers. Even if I had been ignorant of the 
capture and position of the passed-midshipman, a note from the 
commodore would have been sufficient to have interested me offi- 
cially and personally, in his fate ; and I doubt the expediency of 
more than one channel of communication with the Mexican gov- 
ernment, on such subjects. But here is at hand, another func- 
tionary, who, under very recent instructions from the president of 
the United States, may perhaps claim to supersede me in the busi- 
ness of exchanging prisoners of war, as in other military arrange- 
ments. Mr. Trist, chief clerk of the department of state, ap- 
pointed minister or commissioner to Mexico, has arrived at Vera 
Cruz, and may be at this place, with the train expected up, in a 
few days. Perhaps you had better refer the business of your 
mission to him. I only make the suggestion. The difficulty of 
sending forward a flag of truce, at this time, with communica- 
tions to the Mexican government — if there be a competent govern- 
ment anywhere — consists in the necessity of protecting the flag, 
by a large escort, against rancheros, or banditti, who infest the 
road all the way to the capital, and who rob and murder even 
wounded Mexican officers, returning on parole to their own homes. 
When nearer to the capital, sometime hence, I may nevertheless 
have occasion to communicate officially, under cover of a flag, and 
a heavy escort, with anybody there that may be in authority, on 
the subject of prisoners of war generally. Your communications, 
and any that Mr. Trist may desire to transmit, may go by the 
same opportunity. In the meantime, you can remain here, return 
8 



90 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



to Commodore Perry's squadron, or advance with the army, as 
may seem to you best. I have no advice to offer on the subject. 
" With high personal respect, I remain yours, truly, 

"Winfield Scott. 

" Lieut. Eapiiael Semmes, U. S. Navy." 

It was no doubt true, as General Scott informed me, in the 
above communication, that he had held several unofficial conver- 
sations, on the subject of Mr. Rogers' imprisonment, with Mexican 
officers ; but it was equally true, that as yet, he had not addressed 
" a line to any political functionary of Mexico," or military func- 
tionary either, on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war. 
Under these circumstances, the friends of Mr. Rogers could not 
but feel anxious for his fate. It was as inexplicable to them, as 
it was to the army and the country, that no effort had been made 
to exchange either him or any of the Encarnacion prisoners — cap- 
tured on General Taylor's line, in the preceding February — who 
had endured great hardships, and who, for the most part, had been 
kept in close confinement. The latter were not released until after 
the battles of the valley of Mexico had taken place, in the follow- 
ing August and September. We could not understand why five 
thousand prisoners had been released on parole, at Vera Cruz, 
and four thousand at Cerro Gordo, without one word's being" said, 
officially, as to the exchange of those unfortunate Americans who 
had fallen into the hands of the enemy. The fact of Mr. Rogers' 
being on parole in the city of Mexico, was unknown to the govern- 
ment, at the date of its instructions to Commodore Perry; and to 
this officer, also, when he dispatched me on my mission ; and if it 
had been, it could have made no difference, unless the parole had 
been granted with the understanding, that it was not to be with- 
drawn at a subsequent period, and the pretension of the Mexican 
government to treat the prisoner as a spy, renewed. It was 
believed that this indulgence was granted by the enemy, solely on 
account of his defeats, and the fear of a prompt retaliation. There 
was no telling at what moment a reverse of our arms might in- 
spire him with courage to seize the prisoner anew, and execute 
his threat. But independently of this reasoning, the reader cannot 
fail to perceive the very awkward position, in which General Scott, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



91 



previous to the receipt of my note, had placed himself. His 
assumption being nothing less than that, even the President of the 
United States, who, beside being the civil chief magistrate, was, 
ex officio, General Scott's commander-in-chief, could not, and should 
not, hold any communication with the enemy, on the subject of my 
mission, except such as might meet with his approbation, and be 
passed through him ! As it was, he postponed the president and 
his agents, to suit his own convenience ; informing both Mr. Trist 
and myself, that when he should have occasion to send forward 
an escort, on business of his own, we might send, at the same 
time, any dispatches we might have to present to the Mexican 
government. I do not mean to charge General Scott with a want 
of proper sympathy for his unfortunate companions in arms, but 
he certainly manifested a most unaccountable apathy, with regard 
to their exchange. 

I availed myself of the privilege accorded me, of " fol- 
lowing the army in its progress and, for some days, in 
company with my messmates, scoured the country, in every 
direction, in quest of new beauties of scenery, exercise and recrea- 
tion. Although we frequently rode forth in parties of two or 
three only, we were never molested. The defeat of Cerro Gordo 
seemed to have spread a panic through the country, that armed 
even a single American officer with the prestige of a host. I will 
not weary the reader with further descriptions of scenery, although 
the most gorgeous pictures, each one entirely new, were constantly 
presented to us in these excursions ; but if he will accompany me 
to the cathedral, he shall witness an imposing funeral ceremony. 

A Mexican officer, a captain in the 4th Light-infantry, who had 
been mortally wounded at the battle of Cerro Gordo, was buried 
hence with the honors of war. The corpse was borne by six 
Mexican soldiers, under the direction of a Mexican officer — all 
without their arms — and was deposited on its bier in the center 
of the building, followed by a large concourse of people. The 
solemn ritual of the. Catholic Church was read in a slow and dis- 
tinct manner, by a venerable old priest, who seemed himself to be 
tottering on the verge of the grave, to which he was consigning 
his brother, while clouds of incense rose from a burning and bur- 
nished censer in the hands of an attendant. General Scott, the 



92 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



proud and commanding chief of the battle, in which the victim 
had fallen; General Twiggs, who had commanded the storming 
party from which he had received his death wound ; Colonel 
Childs, Colonel Hitchcock, and others of the distinguished officers 
of the American army, entered soon after the commencement of 
the service, and ranging themselves around the corpse, listened 
attentively and reverently to the solemn words of warning spoken 
by the aged priest. The scene was truly impressive. In the 
fancifully decorated coffin, lay the honored dead, surrounded by 
the ghastly emblems which the Catholic Church uses on such 
occasions to excite to devotion, and around stood the warriors — 
Americans and Mexicans intermingled — who had so recentlv met 
in deadly conflict on the battle-field — uncovered, and paying the 
last tribute of respect to a fallen brother. The solemn chanting 
of the choir, and the still more solemn funeral notes of the organ, 
as they were reverberated and prolonged by the vaulted ceiling ; 
the shaven crown of the aged priest ; the perfect stillness which 
prevailed among the audience ; the gorgeous paintings and sculp- 
tured altar-pieces ; the burning candles, and clouds of incense, all 
produced the most soothing and devotion-inspiring effect upon the 
assembled multitude. It was a beautiful and instructive spectacle, 
to behold the grim visages of the warriors — officers and common 
soldiers — saddened and robbed, for the moment, of all feeling of 
hostility, nay softened into sympathy as the service proceeded ; 
and doubtless, many wholesome reflections, on the nothingness 
of man, and the evanescence of glory, passed through their minds. 
The service — read in the Latin language — was short. At its con- 
clusion, the coffin was removed from the church, and escorted to 
the grave by a company of our infantry, with the band of the 
regiment playing that most solemn and impressive of all tunes — 
the Dead March. A cavalcade of American officers brought up 
the rear. A lieutenant of Illinois volunteers, who died also of his 
wounds, was buried on the same day. In fact, scarcely a day 
passed that two or three funerals did not take place, of those who 
were wounded in the late battle. The burying-ground was situ- 
ated on the heights north of the town, in, as one might fancy, the 
Elysian Fields of the ancients ; and from the balcony of our 
quarters, we could both see the processions, and hear the roll of 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



93 



the muffled drum, and the long and mournful cadences of the 
shrill fife, as the comrades of the deceased, with arms reversed 
and funeral step, followed their late brother to his honorable rest- 
ing-place, beneath the acacia and the rose. The most touching 
incident that came to my notice, during my stay at Jalapa, was 
one attending the death of Captain Mason, of the Rifles. This 
officer had lost a leg in the storming of the height of Cerro Gordo. 
On his removal to Jalapa, he became an object of interest to a 
lady and her daughter — of one of the best families in the place — 
who visited him daily, sat by his bed-side, prepared little delica- 
cies for him in the way of food, and in short, administered, during 
his lonv illness, in which he alternatelv hovered on the vero/e of 
the grave, and gave signs of convalescence, all those nameless 
comforts, which woman alone can bestow on such occasions. 
Their deportment was characterized by a grace and propriety, 
which would have done honor to the female character, in any 
part of the world. But at last Death claimed his victim. The 
daughter, whose compassion had, no doubt, been deepened into 
admiration and love, would not quit her charge. She was present 
when the corpse was put into its coffin; watched every movement 
with earnestness ; and when the lid was placed on, and about to be 
screwed down, thus shutting out from her forever, perhaps, the 
only vision that had ever led captive her imagination, she could 
no longer resist the impulses of nature, but burst into a flood of 
tears, and abandoned herself to a most violent paroxysm of grief ! 
The next day she attended the funeral, arrayed in a deep suit of 
mourning. Captain Mason was the last of his family. He was 
the son of the Mason of Virginia, who fell, some years ago, in a 
bloody duel with McCarty of the same state. 

"And he was mourned by one whose quiet grief, 
Less loud, outlasts a people's for their chief." 



CHAPTER V. 



General Santa Anna at Orizaba — His letter to President Anaya — Delay of 
General Scott at Jalapa — His failure to follow up his victory at Cerro 
Gordo — Vacillation of purpose, and final discharge of the volunteers — 
Postponement of campaign — Proclamation, and its effects — March of the 
army from Jalapa to Puebla — Scenes and incidents by the wayside — San 
Miguel el Soldado — La Hoya, and General Twiggs' encampment — Las 
Vigas — Perote and Mount Pizarro — Castle of Perote — Hacienda of San 
Antonio — Tapeahualco. 

Whatever may be said of the courage of Santa Anna, he un- 
doubtedly displayed great energy of character, and great fertility 
of resource in this campaign. The fine army of twenty thousand 
men, which he had raised with so much difficulty, and clothed 
and equipped, at so great an expense — being compelled, in aid 
of the public funds, to use his own private credit, and that of his 
friends — had been beaten and dispersed, as we have seen, by 
General Taylor at the battle of Buena Vista. Returning from 
that unfortunate expedition, he rallied two regiments of his beaten 
army ; and with this small fragment, hastened to Cerro Gordo, 
increasing his force, on the way, to about seven thousand men, by 
the addition of some new levies, and by calling to his aid the 
local militia. Being again beaten here — more than one-half his 
army being made prisoners of war, and the remainder dispersed, 
and narrowly escaping capture himself — he retired with a mere 
body-guard, to the town of Orizaba, situated near the base of the 
mountain of the same name, so often mentioned. From this place, 
on the 22d of April, four days after the battle of Cerro Gordo, he 
addressed the following letter to President Anaya : 

" Orizaba, April 22, 1847. 
"My Esteemed Friend : — The dispatch which I have forwarded 
to the minister of war, will already have informed you, of the 
events which occurred on the 18th inst. The enemy made an 
(94 ) 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



95 



extraordinary effort to force the pass, and attacked me with his 
whole force (which was not less than twelve thousand men), 
exasperated by the repulse he had received the day before, and 
because he knew his ruin was inevitable unless he succeeded. 
He put everything on the hazard of the die ; and the cast has 
been favorable to him. Nevertheless, I do not regard the cause 
of the nation as hopeless, if it will sustain its honor and inde- 
pendence, as circumstances require. I presume that you have 
taken all proper measures for the public safety; and first of all, for 
that of the capital. I shall be able to aid the capital very soon, 
if it will defend itself. At present, I have with me fifteen hundred 
men and three pieces of artillery; and there is no doubt but I 
shall collect, in a few days more, a force equal to that which I 
rallied at Cerro Gordo. I only require that you should send me 
some money, through the medium of bills of exchange, as I find 
it impossible to raise a dollar here. It is necessary, my friend, 
not to give ourselves up as lost ; and before God ! you shall see, 
that I will make no treaty with the enemy, which will dishonor 
us, or put us in a worse condition. Write to me, when convenient, 
and reckon always upon the poor services of your most affection- 
ate friend, who wishes you every happiness. 

<£ A. L. de Santa Anna." 

ISTow was the time for General Scott to have pushed on to 
Mexico ; and there can be no doubt, had he done so, that he 
would have entered the enemy's capital, in triumph, in three 
weeks after the battle of Cerro Gordo. General Worth, with only 
four thousand men, took possession of the strong castle of Perote, 
on the day on which General Santa Anna penned the above let- 
ter to President Anaya. In six or eight days more, he could, 
had his orders permitted him, have been in Mexico — the distance 
from Perote being only one hundred and fifty miles. As it was, 
he did not reach Puebla until the 15th May — twenty seven days 
after the battle of Cerro Gordo. At this time, General Santa 
Anna, with two or three thousand men, whom he had concen- 
trated from the stragglers of his previous armies, was in the 
neighborhood of Puebla, too weak to offer any effective opposi- 
tion to General Worth's entering it. If this were the case on the 



96 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



15th May, after the Mexican genera] had had nearly a month to 
recruit and recover from the effects of his defeat, it may safely be 
averred, that if General Scott's movement had been prompt, he 
would not have encountered a Mexican soldier on any part of his 
route to the capital. Although General Scott had been cramped 
for means of transportation, in the commencement of the campaign, 
he was now abundantly supplied. Draught animals had arrived 
in large numbers, from the United States ; mules of the country 
had been brought in from all quarters ; and three hundred of 
these latter^ animals had been captured, beside, at Cerro Gordo. 
But transportation, otherwise than for the baggage of the army, 
and for the sick and wounded, was not required beyond a very 
limited extent. From the first day of the entry of the army into 
Jalapa, it found abundant supplies of provisions. Under the con- 
ciliatory and judicious system of treatment pursued by General 
Scott toward the unarmed population of the country, they readily 
brought in their produce, of all kinds, to his camp, as to a market 
where they were sure to find ready sales at high prices. With 
the exception of a barren district, of a few miles in extent, be- 
tween Perote and Puebla, and another, of still less extent, between 
Puebla and the city of Mexico, the whole route was capable of 
sustaining an army of fifty thousand men, if it had been judi- 
ciously moved, and accompanied by proper foraging parties. — 
When General Scott did finally move from Jalapa, he supplied 
himself almost wholly with the provisions he had collected at this 
place, and with those he found on the route; and he maintained 
himself the whole summer long in Puebla, without drawing a 
pound of food for his soldiers, or forage for his horses, from Vera 
Cruz. With regard to men, these were abundant. He had ten 
thousand (in round numbers) effective troops at his disposal, 
including the volunteers whom he afterward discharged. This 
was about the number with which he subsequently marched on 
the capital, after a delay of four months ! Although the cam- 
paign which was finally made, was one of the most brilliant re- 
corded in the pages of history, and has established the fame of 
its distinguished commander on a firm and immovable basis, it 
is yet to be regretted, that he did not further astonish the world 
by the rapid conquest I have intimated. General Scott himself, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



97 



with the genius of a true soldier, which consists as much in know- 
ing how to follow up his victories as to gain them, had at one 
time resolved on the step, but afterward vacillated, and finally 
altered his determination. He had even organized his plan of 
march, and published his general order (No. 128), notifying it to 
the army, on the 30th April, twelve days after his late victory. 
The following are extracts from this order : 

" 1. The divisions of the army in this neighborhood (Jalapa), 
will be held in readiness to advance soon after the arrival of trains 
now coming up from Yera Cruz. 

" 2. The route and time for commencing the march will be 
given at general head- quarters. 

" 3. Major- General Patterson, after designating a regiment of 
volunteers as a part of the garrison to hold this place, will put his 
brigades successively in march, with an interval of twenty-four 
hours between them. 

"4. Brigadier- General Twiggs* division will follow the move- 
ment also by brigades. 

" 5. Each brigade, whether of regulars or volunteers, will be 
charged with escorting such part of the general supply train of 
the army as the chiefs of the general staff may have ready to 
send forward. 

" 6. Every man of the divisions will take two days' subsistence 
in his haversack. This will be the general rule for all marches, 
when a greater number of rations is not specially mentioned. 

"7. As the season is near when the army may no longer ex- 
pect to derive supplies from Yera Cruz, it must begin to look 
exclusively to the resources of the country, etc., etc." 

A large proportion of General Scott's army consisted of twelve 
months volunteers, who had been enlisted in May and June of 
the preceding year. These men, at the date of this order, had, 
consequently, on an average, about forty days to serve — ample 
time, and to spare, as I have before remarked, to have brought 
the campaign to a glorious conclusion. They had all arrived at 
Yera Cruz, buoyant with hope and spirit, and full of the roman- 
tic ardor of (to use their own phrase), "reveling in the halls of 
the Montezumas," and were eager and anxious to move forward. 
Once in the city of Mexico, they would have remained willingly 
9 



98 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



with the army until the arrival of reinforcements (and these were 
being rapidly hastened by the government), to take their places. 
If it be urged, that it would have been unsafe to advance into the 
heart of the enemy's country without leaving sufficient garrisons in 
the rear, to keep open communications with the sea-board, it is re- 
plied, that this very thing was finally done — General Scott breaking 
up the garrison of Jalapa in July, and leaving behind him, when 
he marched upon the city of Mexico, only a few hundred effec- 
tive men, respectively in the castle of Perote, and in that of 
Loretto, at Puebla ; in both of which places they were shut up, 
not daring to push their foraging parties — much less to keep open 
the road — the distance of ten miles. 

Beside, this doctrine of keeping open communications was en- 
tirely inapplicable to General Scott's position. Where an army is 
composed of a hundred thousand men, or more, who are obliged 
to depend upon their depots for supplies, in consequence of the ina- 
bility of the country to support them, it is absolutely necessary to 
conquer as you go, and to hold certain points, to keep open your 
communications. But this was not the system of warfare intend- 
ed to be carried on, or necessary to be carried on, in General 
Scott's case. It would have required twenty-five thousand men, 
at the least, to accomplish it. With his ten thousand men, having 
the ability to feed himself anywhere in the country, there was but 
one thing to be done, and that was, to carry out the object of the 
campaign, by capturing, as speedily as possible, the enemy's 
capital. This done, nothing would have been easier, as it after- 
ward proved, than to open his communications with Vera Cruz, 
to enable the new levies, which were coming forward, to join him, 
and to permit his discharged volunteers to return. In fact, these 
levies afterward opened their own way to the capital, without the 
least assistance from head-quarters. It is but fair to state, that 
Santa Anna would, in consequence of not having been further 
beaten, as he was in the battles of the valley of Mexico, have 
probably been in greater force outside the walls of the capital, to 
attack new bodies of troops arriving ; which might have rendered 
it necessary for these troops to have concentrated in larger num- 
bers, before leaving Yera Cruz, instead of marching, as they did, 
in small detachments of from eight to fifteen hundred. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



99 



General Kearney had set General Scott a memorable example 
of a campaign of the kind I have been considering, in his cele- 
brated march through, and conquest of, New Mexico. This offi- 
cer, with two thousand seven hundred men, only six hundred of 
whom were regulars, boldly threw himself into the wilderness, 
with infantry, artillery, and baggage train ; and without other re- 
sources, in the heavier articles of consumption, than were afforded 
by the country, marched near a thousand miles, in fifty days! and 
on the 18th of August, 1846, amid a salute of artillery, hoisted 
the flag of the United States in the ancient capital of Santa Fe. 
Most of this march was over a mere trail, and through a barren 
and badly-watered country. It took General Scott twenty-seven 
days, as we have seen, to move his advance division from Jalapa 
to Puebla, a distance of ninety-nine miles, over a national turn- 
pike, and in the heart of a fertile, well-watered, and thickly- 
inhabited country ; and that, too, at a time when the whole road 
to Mexico was open, and Santa Anna a fugitive in Orizaba, with 
a few hundred men. But it is useless to dwell further, on what I 
think the military reader will acknowledge, was a mistake of the 
distinguished hero of Chippewa, and Cerro Gordo. The general 
order above quoted was countermanded, and the division of vol- 
unteers marched back to Yera Cruz, under General Patterson, 
where they were subsequently discharged, and sent to the United 
States. 

After the discharge of the volunteers, General Scott decided 
upon marching upon Puebla, reuniting his remaining forces, with 
those of General Worth, and awaiting, in this great inland city of 
the Cordilleras, for reinforcements. His forces, upon his arrival 
in Puebla, amounted to about six thousand men. Having issued 
a proclamation, at Yera Cruz, which added very much to the ex- 
asperation of the Mexican people, by reminding them of their 
internal broils, and alluding to their bad government, he put forth 
a still more offensive one before leaving Jalapa. Nothing is more 
useless, perhaps, than the issuing long argumentative proclama- 
tions, in an enemy's country, with the hope of producing any 
beneficial effect ; and nothing is more difficult than to draw up 
such papers, so as to avoid giving offense to the national sensibili- 
ties. Generals, with the best intentions, frequently sin in this 



100 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



particular. ISTapoleon was the only modern general whose pro- 
clamations will bear reading. His never exceeded half a dozen 
lines, and were argumenta ad hominem; the only kind of procla- 
mation that should ever be addressed to an enemy. The procla- 
mation of Jalap a was very creditable, as a literary production, but 
it sinned grievously in its egotistical tone, and in its want of tact, 
in re-opening the sores of the Mexican body-politic. Nations, like 
individuals, do not like to be told of their faults, and least of all, 
do they like to be told of them by their enemies. The bickerings 
of politicians are like family quarrels, which none but the mem- 
bers of the family should intermeddle with. In General Scott's 
appeal to the people against their rulers, and in his endeavor to 
excite the common soldiery against their generals, he made the 
fundamental mistake, too, of supposing that there was a people 
in Mexico to be appealed to. Every one, at all acquainted with 
Mexican affairs, knows, as I have stated in a preceding part of 
these memoirs, that about one-sixth of the Mexican population 
rules the country, the other five-sixths being mere cyphers, little 
above the beasts of burthen, whose offices they, in part, perform, 
and incapable of the least mental exertion. When, therefore, the 
people of Mexico — that is, the one-sixth, who are both people 
and rulers at the same time — were told that their government was 
rotten, and their rulers knaves, they were, in fact, told that they 
were all knaves. A statement, which, however true it may be, was 
calculated rather to irritate and excite, than to conciliate. Gene- 
ral Scott's proclamation circulated, as a matter of course, through 
all parts of the country, and produced great excitement ; effectu- 
ally reversing any pacific intentions, the people might have enter- 
tained, after their several defeats. Santa Anna, in consequence 
of his want of success, had lost all prestige with the nation, and 
was already becoming odious. In the city of Mexico, they de- 
bated a long time, whether they would permit him to enter, after 
the battle of Cerro Gordo. The inhabitants of the capital, fear- 
ing the fate of Vera Cruz — the horrors of the siege of which 
had been magnified to them, ten-fold — were inclined to submit to 
our arms, without making any defense ; and if General Scott, in- 
stead of issuing his impolitic proclamation, had hastened forward 
to reap the fruits of his victory, there is no telling what might 



IN" THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



101 



have been the result. It is possible, and even probable, that 
Santa Anna would have been banished a second time, and a peace 
forthwith concluded with the United States. To show that I do 
not exaggerate the degree of exasperation, produced by this cele- 
brated state-paper, I quote below a passage or two from a pam- 
phlet, written in reply to it, by an intelligent Mexican: 

"If a knowledge of our duty had not induced us to embrace 
with enthusiasm, and with faith, the sacred cause of Mexican in- 
dependence, the reading of the manifest, which we are about to 
answer, would have been sufficient to cause us to take an active 
part in the present contest. Has the North American general 
properly appreciated the magnitude of the insult which he has 
offered to Mexicans, and which we will remember in the day of 
our vengeance ? Did the chief of the invading army propose to 
himself, to blind some, to divide others, and to deceive all with 
false promises, and untrue protestations? If so, he has produced 
a contrary result ; he has aroused in all hearts a holy indignation; 
he has made us feel the necessity of union, in order that we may 
revenge so many outrages ; and, finally, he has inspired us with 
a noble resolution, of never treating with an enemy, as cruel as 
perfidious. Fortunately, we are not as imbecile as General Scott 
supposes us, nor as degraded, as it would be necessary for us to 
be, to listen with a serene front, to his insults and his threats, in 
that language of protection and of pity, in which he addresses us. 
But let us descend to a reply to that defamatory libel upon our 
name ; let us say something concerning that celebrated document, 
which, certainly, neither displays the practiced diplomatist, the 
distinguished military chief, nor the astute and dextrous politi- 
cian, but the man of conquest, who, to the scandal of the civilized 
world, enters our territory, at the head of a horde of immoral 
adventurers, like an Alaric, or an Attila. * * * * * We 
reply, with an erect brow and a conscience free from all stain, 
that whatever may be our condition, whatever our errors, we do 
not recognize in a stranger, and still less in an enemy, the right to 
chide us, or to protect us against our will, or to counsel us against 
our consent ; and that we throw back his offered protection and ac- 
cept war, preferring death to dishonor. * * * * * The 
insidious words of our enemies have caused us much indignation, 



102 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



and we have been inexpressibly grieved, at the picture they have 
drawn of our evils — a picture, unfortunately, too true. Never- 
theless, we prefer these evils to the happiness which is offered us, 
at the mouth of the cannon and the point of the bayonet. Alone, 
we conquered our liberty ; alone, will we judge of what should 
constitute our prosperity ; and alone, will we pursue it. We 
have no need of strangers, nor do we ask them for counsel in our 
troubles — we prefer rather to take counsel of our courage and 
our reason. We repeat, that whatever may be our condition, we 
prefer it, a thousand times, to that which is offered us at the price 
of our independence ; and General Scott may rest satisfied, that 
all good Mexicans think as we do. * * * * * * Has 
General Scott informed his nation, that beside burning our cities, 
and assassinating the families who reside in them, and spilling our 
blood in a barbarous and cruel manner, he chides us like beard 
less youths for our errors ? Is the hero of the bombardment of 
Yera Cruz, as dextrous in playing the part of a pedagogue, as 
in cowardly attacks to destroy a city V The American reader 
perceives, of course, the Mexican propensity to exaggeration 
and bombast displayed in the above extracts, and the injus- 
tice done to General Scott, and our people ; but he perceives, also, 
the deep thrill of indignation which had been produced by the 
proclamation I have been reviewing — a paper, which, although 
written with all becoming dignity, and much insight into the con- 
dition of things in Mexico, revealed too many plain truths to be 
palatable, and was therefore impolitic. 

Preparations began to be actively made, soon after the issue 
of this paper, for our movement upon Puebla. On the 14th 
of May, a train, consisting of two hundred and twenty wagons, 
and one thousand and fifty pack-mules, escorted by six hundred 
men, arrived from Yera Cruz with supplies. It had been General 
Scott's intention to march immediately upon the arrival of this 
train, but learning that there would be another up, in four or five 
days, he resolved to await the arrival of the latter. This train, 
consisting of one hundred and fifty wagons, having arrived on the 
20th, orders were issued for a forward movement on the 22d. In 
the meantime, Lieutenant Colonel Childs, a tried and veteran 
soldier, of decided military talents, and cool and discriminating 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



103 



judgment, was selected to remain in Jalapa, as commandant of the 
garrison to be left here, and governor of the town. In the latter 
capacity he had already been acting for some weeks, and had 
given general satisfaction, not only to the army, but to the native 
population. Indeed, he had become so popular with the citizens 
of the place, that on the eve of our departure, they gave him a 
very handsome ball, which was attended by many of the better 
classes, and particularly by the ladies ; which latter, some how or 
other, seemed always to have less antipathy to the gay uniforms 
and fine persons of our dashing young officers, than their husbands 
and fathers. 

On the afternoon of the 22d, General Twiggs took up his line 
of march, and proceeded some five or six miles out of the city; 
where he was to encamp for the night, and be joined, on the follow- 
ing morning, by the general-in-chief, and the various staff corps. 
It was a fine sight to see this veteran division, which had won 
so much fame at Cerro Gordo, file through the streets, arrayed in 
their best uniforms, wdth bands playing, and their regimental 
colors, pierced by the balls and begrimed by the smoke of battle, 
unfurled to the breeze. The balconies were filled with fair spec- 
tators ; and as the division had been quartered in the town a 
month, and as love sometimes makes short work, as well as war, 
there was no doubt many a gentle sigh heaved on the occasion — 
at the lavandero, at least. Movement is the life of the soldier; he 
soon tires of the inactivity and luxury of cities, be these never so 
luxurious; and the bronzed features of those fine-looking fellows 
were lighted up with the radiance of anticipation, as they thus 
commenced anew their progress in that, wonderful and romantic 
region, the plateaus of the Cordilleras of the Andes. Other fields 
and other glories beckoned them onward ; and each soldier look- 
ing, for himself, on the bright side only of the picture of war, saw 
only its tapestried outlines, unmindful of the grim phantom of 
death lurking in the background. As Seymour and I belonged 
to the staff, by virtue of our mess arrangements, we were to move 
in the shadow of the commander-in-chief. Our arrangements 
were soon made. The gallant caterer of our mess (with the able 
assistance of Monsieur Auguste) relieved us of all trouble on the 
score of subsistence, so that the tin pots and forked sticks, which 



104 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



we had used on the road from Yera Cruz, would henceforth be 
Jwrs du combat. Seymour, therefore, had only to buy himself an 
extra plug of tobacco, reeve a new lanyard for his jack-knife, 
and — take leave of his washerwoman, and we were ready for the 
road. 

Everything was bustle and confusion, in our quarters, on the 
morning of the 23d, as horses were being saddled, valises packed 
and strapped on, holsters and pistols adjusted, etc. It was Sun- 
day, and we sallied forth about ten o'clock, a. m., while the 
church-bells, with their solemn and prolonged peals, were calling 
the good people of the town to mass. The notes of the bugle 
collecting the different squads, and sounding the advance, and the 
clattering of the iron-armed hoofs of the heavy cavalry horses 
over the paved streets, presented, in strange contrast, the sounds 
of war with those of " peace and good-will among men," which 
are the foundations of the Christian religion. The morning was 
one of the brightest of the mornings of Jalapa ; and the reader 
has been informed how bright and beautiful these were. The 
sun shone forth with his wonted splendor, the air was redolent of 
perfume and of the song of birds, and the landscape, at all 
times lovely, seemed still more so on the present occasion. The 
rains, which had fallen on the two or three preceding evenings, 
gave a delightful freshness to the vegetation, which in the morn- 
ing sun presented that depth and variety of tint, which I have 
before noticed as -peculiar to the region. Orizaba, with its snow- 
clad crest glittering like so much burnished silver in the dancing 
sunbeams ; the Co/re of Perote, and the lesser and nearer spurs 
of the Cordilleras, added grandeur and sublimity to the picturesque 
landscape below. For several miles out of town, the road was 
one string of human beings — horsemen : straggling foot-soldiers, 
who had been left behind by their regiments, the evening before, 
and were hurrying forward to join them ; officers ; citizens, who 
were followers of the army; and even several tidy-looking horse- 
women — all bound to the " city of the Angels," as Puebla is called, 
in the vernacular. Sunday being a market-day in Jalapa, crowds 
of Indians were flocking into town, to church and to market at 
the same time, laden with country-chairs, and other articles of 
rude manufacture, vegetables, flowers, etc. It was surprising to 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



105 



see what burthens these men, and women too, had, by long habit, 
enabled themselves to bear. A single Tamame — burthen-bearer — 
will sometimes carry as much as three hundred pounds. With 
their bodies inclined forward, and their burthens adjusted on their 
backs, and kept in their places by leathern straps passing round 
the chest and forehead, they moved along in a kind of dog-trot, 
without looking either to the right or the left, entirely unmindful, 
to all appearance, of the brilliant pageant which was passing 
before them. What cared they for the pride and pomp of war, 
they were "hewers of wood and drawers of water!" They were 
all dressed in the coarsest and homeliest garbs, indicating the toil 
and poverty which were their lot in this land on which heaven 
had bestowed many of its choicest favors. 

We crossed the small river Zedano — which, being joined by an- 
other small stream, falls into the sea as the Atopan — on a massive 
stone bridge, some three miles from Jalap a. A few miles further 
on, we passed through the village of Zedano, and beyond this, we 
overtook the infantry regiments, a large caravan of pack-mules, 
and a lengthy wagon train, consisting of four hundred wagons. 
The country on both sides of us was clothed with the richest 
vegetation, and was still more beautiful, if this be possible, than 
that around Jalapa, from its being more broken and presenting a 
greater variety of scenery. The road-side abounded in shade- 
trees and flowering shrubs, intermingled with fruit-trees of many 
varieties — among which we noticed the cherry and the apple ; indi- 
cating, like barometers, our approach to a more elevated region. 
Our ascent was quite gradual until we reached the little town of 
San Miguel el Soldado, situated beautifully on a hill-side, and with 
its white houses embowered in a mass of foliage ; the church spire 
alone rising above the tops of the trees. From this point, the 
road winds up steep ascents all the way to La Hoya. In places, 
it was hewed, as it were, out of the steep hill-side, and was reveted 
and parapeted for the security of the traveler. From one of these 
parapets, high above San Miguel, which now appeared a mere 
speck at our feet, we had a magnificent view of the surrounding 
country; which reminded us very much of the mountainous parts 
of Pennsylvania, except that it was much more broken, and was 
almost entirely devoid of cultivation — a patch of Indian-corn and 



106 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



barley, here and there, being the only indications of the husband- 
man. Isolated conical hills, of regular shape, and covered to the 
very summit with tall forest trees, and romantic valleys, stretching 
far away into the distance, were predominant features of the 
landscape. The atmosphere was cool and fragrant, and its tran- 
sparency most remarkable. The winding road — which here 
climbed a long and steep ascent — covered, for two or three miles, 
with white -tented wagons, cavalry and infantry now appearing 
and now disappearing as they followed its sinuosities, gave life 
and animation to the beautiful picture, and added to the many 
associations with which every step, in this interesting country, is 
fraught. From this height a beautiful waterfall may be seen, 
many leagues away, appearing like a mere thread of silver thrown 
over the surface of the rocky bluff from which it is precipitated. 

Just before reaching La Hoya, we lose the rich vegetation I 
have been describing, which is supplanted, in the course of a 
thousand feet, or so, of ascent, by the growth of an entirely dif- 
ferent climate. The pine, and other evergreens of high latitudes, 
now make their appearance, and the country becoming more 
broken than ever, begins to be covered with fragments of volcanic 
rock. La Hoya is another of the strong defiles on the road to 
Mexico. A conical hill, rising to the height of fi>e hundred feet, 
and reminding one very much of Cerro Gordo, commands the 
high-road, which winds along its base for the space of two miles 
and more. This is but the beginning of the pass ; other rocky 
heights, broken into deep chasms, continue to present themselves, 
and enfilade the steep ascent. Breastworks, which must have cost 
the enemy infinite toil, were constructed along these heights, and 
timber had been felled, and the undergrowth cleared away, to 
give free range to artillery and musketry. 

We found several pieces of ordnance here, which the enemy 
had abandoned upon his defeat at Cerro Gordo, and which Gene- 
ral Worth, in his advance, had spiked and otherwise rendered 
useless. 

In a small valley, imbosomed in this rocky scenery, and through 
the green-sward of which meandered a small stream, General 
Twiggs encamped for the night. His busy little camp, with its 
white tents, parked wagon train, and picketed cavalry, presenting, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 107 

in contrast with the wild and jagged hill-tops, one of those beau- 
tiful and romantic spectacles which the pen is so powerless to 
describe. We, of the staff, halted here to rest for half an hour, 
and then pushed on, intending to spend the night at Las Vigas y 
higher up the mountain. My horse having lost a shoe, in that 
short half hour a traveling-forge, belonging to Captain Taylor's 
battery, lighted up its fires and replaced it with a new one. 

From La Hoya to Las Vigas, the distance is two leagues, and 
the ascent rapid and continuous. The country continued to be 
covered with volcanic rock, which presented the appearance of hav- 
ing been cooled suddenly, while in a state of ebullition. The char- 
acter of the whole scenery was singularly romantic ; hills, now and 
then swelling into mountain-peaks of the most fantastic and rug- 
ged outlines (from whose fissures and crevices sprang the somber 
pine, with a thick and tangled undergrowth of brush and brier 
beneath which trickled small streams of water) rose on every 
hand. Mosses and lichens, and a dwarfed species of the agave 
Americana, or aloe, also made their appearance. Occasionally, 
as we toiled up the steep ascent, the view would open upon the 
country below, and the eye would wander over many leagues of 
a wild and barren waste, until it rested, in fatigue, on the distant 
horizon. 

At an early hour in the afternoon, we reached the village of 
Las Vigas — the beams — elevated 7812 feet above the level of the 
sea. It contains some five or six hundred people, who live in 
rude stone and log houses — the latter covered with pine slabs, 
pegged on with wooden pins for want of nails. The only object 
of attraction was a church, not quite finished, with a remarkably 
tasteful dome. The cavalry picketed their horses in the church- 
yard, as yet untenanted by the dead, and slept in the body of the 
building. The General took up his quarters in the cabildo, or 
town house ; and our mess — quarter-masters having the selection 
and arrangement of quarters, as their name implies — was com- 
fortably housed, of course ; that is to say, as comfortably as we 
could be, in a dirty house without furniture. The inhabitants 
generally had run off, some days before, and taken with them, or 
secreted, their effects. 

The night was clear, and the stars bright, and the keen moun- 



108 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



tain air caused me to wrap my blanket closely around me, and 
seek the shelter of a pile of oats in the straw, which had been left 
in the room in which I slept. Before we retired, Auguste, who 
had managed to pick up a few eggs, and a handful of frijoles — 1 
beans of the country — prepared us an excellent supper ; to which 
we did ample justice, after our long and toilsome ride among the 
mountains. With the aid of my friendly pile of straw, I should 
have passed a capital night, but for the fleas, which assaulted me 
without mercy. 

We were astir at an early hour, the next morning ; and before 
sunrise, I walked to the small brook, which the natives dignified 
with the title of rio! — river — and performed my ablutions in its 
limpid waters, at fresco. I enjoyed the cool morning air as one 
does the sight of an old acquaintance, and had the satisfaction to 
feel the tips of my fingers tingle with the frost, as I withdrew 
them from the mountain streamlet. After being burned to death 
on the ocean, and in the tierra caliente, for the last eighteen months, 
it was a charming variety to be frozen ! 

Leaving Las Yigas at half past seven, we reached Perote at 
eleven : the distance bein£ four leagues. After a few miles of 
Alpine road and scenery, such as we had passed over the day 
before, except that the lava disappeared (giving place to various 
laminated rocks and granite), and the hill-sides were more culti- 
vated, we crossed a little stream, on the banks of which stood a 
ruined stone building, and in attempting to ford which, at the 
wrong point, Monsieur Auguste's horse got bogged, and threw 
him, sabre and all, into the mud, we debouched into the plain of 
Perote. The road now ran along the base of the Sierra — moun- 
tain ledge — on the left, on which rises the Cofre of Perote, a re- 
markable peak visible for many miles in every direction, and 
which I had often gazed upon from the deck of the Somers, as I 
had been blockading Vera Cruz. I welcomed it as an old friend. 
As we rode along, we changed it from the form of a square block, 
or coffer, or chest — whence its name — first into a fortress, and 
then into a ruined castle. It is below the permanent snow-level, 
but is sometimes covered with the element during the prevalence 
of storms, when it resembles a coffin, with a huge winding-sheet 
thrown over it. The plain was well cultivated — that is to say, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



109 



after the fashion of the country — the man of two thousand years 
ago turning up the soil with a yoke of oxen, and with the identi- 
cal plow described by Virgil. The crops, which consisted chiefly 
of Indian-corn, and a large bean of the country, called the haba 
(extensively used for food by the common people), were suffering 
for want of rain. Mount Pizarro, a conical mountain of regular 
shape, and standing entirely alone, in the vast plain, as if it had 
been forcibly upheaved like an island in the sea, by some convul- 
sion of nature, rose upon the view as we turned an angle of the 
Sierra ; and soon afterward, we espied the castle and town of 
Perote, relieved against the base of this mountain, which stood 
beyond it. 

The alcalde quartered us upon an old woman, the housekeeper 
of a family non est, who, at first, was terribly alarmed, but whom 
we soon succeeded in soothing and putting in a good humor. 
Seymour, who was not sure but the old beldam might have a 
pretty daughter, was the principal agent in this process of dulci- 
fication. Auguste, who, in cooking our supper the night before, 
at Las Vigas, had nearly smoked his eyes out over a fire, built a la 
ivigwam in the center of the floor, was delighted to find here a 
regular and well ordered cocina — kitchen. 

The town of Perote contains about fifteen hundred inhabitants, 
and has two churches ; the only buildings of any note. The 
principal of these, fronts on one side of the plaza — public square — 
and its steeple, which towers to a great height, serves as a land- 
mark to point out the position of the city, for many leagues over 
the boundless plain. The center of the plaza is adorned with a 
tasteful d'eau, affording to the inhabitants an abundant supply 
of pure and cool water, fresh from the mountains. The mass of 
the buildings, which are but one story in height, were con- 
structed of the adobe, or sun-dried brick. 

In the afternoon, I visited the famous castle of Perote, memo- 
rable, in the revolutionary annals of Texas, as the dreary prison 
of many of her captured soldiers. We met a funeral at the 
main portcullis — some soldier having fallen a victim to war, or 
the climate — and halted until it filed past ; the sentinel "present- 
ing arms" to the body of his deceased comrade, and the notes of 
the muffled drum, and the moaning fife, falling but too painfully 



110 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



on the ear. On the advance of General Worth, the Mexican gar- 
rison had been withdrawn, and but a single officer, Colonel Vas- 
quez, was left behind, with orders to deliver up the work upon 
the approach of our troops. This was accordingly done, upon 
summons. This immense fortress is a quadrangle, with four bas- 
tions, and covers two acres of ground. Its parapets are eight 
feet in thickness, and rise to the height of sixty feet from the bot- 
tom of the moat, which is counterscarped with stone, and is from 
fifty to seventy-five feet wide, and fifteen feet deep. The citadel, 
which is at the same time the quarters of the officers, occupies the 
center of the fortress, and forms a hollow square. In this, and 
in the casemates, four thousand troops may be comfortably lodged, 
although fifteen hundred would be a sufficient garrison. The 
whole fortress is of the most massive and substantial masonry. 
It had been stripped of much of its armament. We found only a 
few light pieces — 16s being the heaviest. I had the curiosity to 
measure the diameter of a mammoth brass mortar, of Spanish 
manufacture, which I saw here — it measured seventeen and a 
half inches. The armory, capable of containing fifty thousand 
stand of arms, the numerous workshops, store rooms, etc., ranged 
around the walls, were in the most complete order. The armor- 
ers had apparently just left their anvils ; and we saw several bar- 
rels of leaden balls, of various sizes, from one to eight ounces, 
which had, no doubt, been cast only a few days before General 
Worth's arrival. Religion is not lost sight of amidst all this ter- 
rible array of war, as there is quite a neat chapel in one corner of 
the square, inclosed by the citadel. President Guadalupe Vic- 
toria, the first president of the Mexican republic, was buried here ; 
a plain wooden slab, in one of the walls, points out his resting- 
place. Such is the strength and completeness of this fortress, that 
if it had chosen to withstand a siege, it might, if it had been 
thought worth the trouble, have cost us much labor and patience 
to have captured it. But except that it is on the main road to the 
capital, and would have afforded the enemy a convenient point, 
from which to have carried on a guerrilla warfare against our 
trains and small detachments, its possession was not of the least 
value to us. Being built in the open plain, it commands no pass, 
and does not obstruct, in any manner, the passage of an army. It 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



Ill 



seems to have been intended, by the Spanish government, as a 
mere place of arms, to overawe and rule the surrounding country. 
Like San Juan de Ulloa, it has played an important part in all 
the Mexican revolutions; and many of the incendiary state papers 
issued, from time to time, by the chiefs of the army, have been 
treasonably concocted within its precincts. The sooner the plow- 
share is passed over it, and all similar structures in Mexico, the 
better it will be for the people. As we had approached the town, 
we had been somewhat puzzled by the appearance of the flag that 
floated over the castle ; the field of the union being green, instead 
of blue. We were not sure, at first, but that Colonel Wynkoop, 
infected by the atmosphere of the place, had made a pronuncia- 
miento; and at the head of his gallant Pennsylvanians, set up for 
himself. Meeting one of his captains, who spoke more good Ger- 
man than Anglo-Saxon, we inquired the cause of the phenomenon ; 
which he explained to us very lucidly and satisfactorily, as fol- 
lows : — " Yaw, yaw, de green ish not blue, but den, you see, de 
stars ish white !" By which form of expression, the gallant cap- 
tain meant to convey to us the idea, that so long as the stars were 
all right, it mattered not what kind of a field they floated in. 
The flao; had, in fact, been constructed of Mexican bunting, and 
as Mexico wears no blue in her national standard, we had been 
obliged to substitute green. 

Except an occasional straggling plant, in the neighborhood of 
Jalapa and on the road-side, we saw here, for the first time, the 
agave Americana, or maguey plant, as it is vulgarly called, which 
is extensively and profitably cultivated on the table-lands of Mexi- 
co. The plant is from five to six years in maturing, and is pro- 
pagated by means of suckers from the roots. All the cordage, 
sacks, mats, etc., used for domestic purposes, are made of the 
fibrous portions of the leaves, which grow from five to seven feet 
in length ; and the wine of the country, or rather a fermented 
liquor more nearly resembling our cider, used extensively by the 
common people, is made of its juices. The process of extracting 
this liquid, is very simple. When the plant is from three to four 
years old, the top part of the main stem is cut off*, and a hole or basin 
scooped into it, into which exudes the sap or juice of the plant — « 
without injuring its growth. This is bailed out every morning, 



112 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



by a man with a small gourd, who pours the contents into a hog- 
skin slung over his shoulder. The juice of a single plant amounts, 
in the course of twenty-four hours, to a pint, or half a gallon, 
according to its development. This liquid, when it has undergone 
fermentation, which takes place in from three to ten days, is fit 
for use. It resembles, in appearance, milk and water, and has, 
to one unaccustomed to it, a taste similar to that of buttermilk, 
which has stood a day or two and become exceedingly acid. It 
will intoxicate, if taken in large quantities ; and the natives, high 
and low, are very fond of it. Pulque (the name given this 
liquor) is only found in the highlands in the interior — the maguey 
not flourishing in the tierra caliente; and nature seems thus to 
have located it, to answer a valuable purpose in her economy. — 
As the traveler ascends the mountain slopes of the Cordilleras, 
he finds, after reaching a certain height — about the level of 
Perote and Puebla — that the cutis ceases to perform one of 
its most important functions ; perspiration being checked so en- 
tirely, that the utmost exertion is scarcely sufficient to moisten 
even the forehead. This sudden shock to the vital economy, 
which might otherwise be highly injurious, is remedied, in a great 
measure, by the use of the drink I have been describing — the 
pulque being a gentle diuretic. It is, accordingly recommended 
with reason, to all new comers. At first, I had to hold my nose 
and take it as a medicine ; but, after a short time, in common 
with others, I became quite fond of it ; and Auguste frequently 
placed this vino del pais on our dinner table. 

We halted but a single night in Perote, and were in the saddle 
again by eight o'clock, the next morning. On mustering our 
forces we ascertained that one of our dragoons had been stabbed 
and robbed during the night. Although we made diligent search, 
no clue could be found to the detection of the criminal. The air 
was delightfully cool and bracing, though the morning was not 
very bright. Our road continued to traverse the plain, we had 
entered upon the day before, and the country for a short distance 
was cultivated in maize and barley — the fields being inclosed by 
the useful and ornamental maguey, which, with its thorn-pointed 
leaves, presented very effectual barriers against the encroachments 
of stock. After riding some five or six miles, all traces of culti- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



113 



vation disappeared, and we entered upon a desolate-looking tract 
of barren, sandy country, producing a scant crop of grass, on 
which were browsing, here and there, a flock of sheep. 

We witnessed, here, for the first time, the mirage, so often 
spoken of by travelers, and so common in high latitudes, or their 
equivalents, great elevations. Although we were prepared for 
this illusion, we were completely deceived by it ; every one being 
sure that he saw a lake sleeping in tranquil beauty, and reflecting 
back from its surface, the crests of the neighboring Sierra, in a 
spot where we found as we approached it, there was not a drop 
of water ! The most curious spectacle of this kind I ever beheld, 
was off the coast of South America, some years ago, while cruis- 
ing in one of our ships-of-war. We were standing close in for 
the bold highlands abreast of Caraccas, on rather a dark night, 
when we distinctly saw reflected, in a cloud that hovered over the 
city, the lights, and as we fancied, the outlines of the houses. 

At the hacienda of San Antonio we stopped to water our horses, 
and rest for half an hour, while the baggage teams were being 
brought up. This was the only place where water was to be had 
between Perote and Tepeahualco — a distance of nineteen miles — 
the well here was two hundred and ten feet deep. The hacienda 
was little more than a caravanseray, consisting of a cluster of 
huts, with an immense corral — court-yard — inclosed by high stone 
walls, for the accommodation of droves of cattle, and their attend- 
ants. These haciendas are all fortresses, where the people are 
gathered together in small communities, as a means of protection 
from the hordes of bandits who infest this wild and sparsely popu- 
lated region. The remainder of our march to Tepeahualco was 
through a perfect waste — the plain being on a dead level, and pre- 
senting the appearance of having once been the bed of an inland 
sea. Our cavalcade raised clouds of dust, as it advanced over 
the sun-burned road, and the country was devoid of vegetation, 
except a few blades of stunted grass that were struggling through 
the drowth for existence. The mountains, which arose on either 
hand, and locked us in, as in a basin, seeming thus to give color 
to the idea of our traversing what had once been the bed of the 
ocean, were as devoid of vegetation as the plain below ; pre- 
senting their naked sides, seamed and scarred by the elements, to 
10 



114 



UXBESLAL BCOTT'fl CAMPAIOV. 



the sun, which, by this time had made his appearance, and scorch- 
ing us, as we occasionally approached them on the one hand or 
the other, with his deflected rays. The barren and gloomy aspect 
of the near landscape was relieved and redeemed bv the ma,::::- 
cence of the more distant mountain scenery. On our left, the 
Cofre of Perote and Orizaba, still accompanied us, as they had 
done most of the way from Vera Cruz, as " clouds bv day," 
chained together by other heights and spurs but little inferior to 
them in grandeur ; and on our right, we approached and passed, 
about mid-day, tha: most singular of mountain cones. Mount 
Pizarro, before noticed, rising to the height of two thousand feet 
and more, in the midst of the plain. On its apex had been 
planted, by some enterprising individuals, a gigantic cross, which 
towered as a land-mark for many leagues around. A more fit 
temple for the worship of the All-powerful and Infinite could not 
have been conceived. A storm of wind and rain overtook us as 
we were winding around the base of this cone; and the sharp 
crashes of thunder over our heads, and the playing of the forked 
liofhtninof around the cross on the summit of the mountain — the 
vivid flashes being rendered still more vivid by being relieved 
against the dense, black cloud beyond — presented us with a sub- 
lime spectacle of the war of the elemen:s. We quickened our 
pace, and some of us unstrapped and drew on our serapes, but we 
outstripped the shower, which seemed to prefer to linger around 
the mountain, and fortunately we escaped a wetting. 

About one o'clock, p. m., we descried, at a distance, some white- 
washed walls, and green patches of vegetation, forming what ap- 
peared to be an oasis in the desert ; and soon afterward we 
entered, not an oasis, but a mud-built town in a maguey planta- 
tion. The beauty of the prospect, like the mirage of the morning, 
vanished upon our entry. Several large corrales, a meson — inn — 
with portals in front, and two or three hundred huts of the most 
miserable description, formed the town of Tepeahualco. It was 
situated near the base of a perpendicular mountain of granite, 
with superincumbent layers of limes: me, whose naked cliffs were 
unrelieved by a single shrub, or b;ade of grass : and down :he 
sides of which had thundered, from time to time, masses of rock, 
which lav strewed around. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



115 



The church, which we visited — having first assured the igno- 
rant padre (all priests, in Mexico, are reverentially and affection- 
ately called padre; that is, father) that we were not Jews — stood in 
bold proximity to the mountain, like a pigmy at the foot of a giant, 
seeming to covet its protection. Thus relieved, it formed a beautiful 
and picturesque feature of the landscape. It was a large, and had 
once been an elegant, building ; but was now, like almost every 
noble relic of the past one meets with in Mexico, in a state of 
decay, fast verging toward dilapidation. Beneath the floor was a 
cemetery ; a series of wooden trap-doors, or hatches, leading to 
the vaults, where had been deposited the remains of the dead 
generations, which had been successively gathered to their fathers, 
in the last two centuries — the building having apparently about 
this age. We trod reverentially over these mementoes of mor- 
tality, and conversed in tones scarcely above a whisper, as we 
wandered through the silent aisles of the venerable old church — 
which preached to us more eloquently of the frail tenure of our 
existence, and of the short span of human life, than could have 
done the most elaborate discourse. There were much antique 
carving and gilding, and many bad paintings and worse attempts 
at sculpture in wood, dispersed throughout the building. There 
were many ruins in this vicinity, showing that Tepeahualco had 
formerly been a much more extensive town, than it is at the present 
day. Beside the houses before noticed, as lying in the plain, and 
which formed the town proper, there was a number of Indian 
huts or hovels perched on a somewhat elevated ridge of lava 
near by. This ridge or dyke of lava extended several miles, as 
far as the base of Mount Pizarro, whence, in some former convul- 
sion, it had, no doubt, issued. It lay piled in the most fantastic 
shapes ; and, in places where it had been disintegrated by the 
long action of the elements, it was covered by a luxuriant growth 
of the cactus, maguey, etc.; among which the natives had built 
their huts. These frail structures were made of small reeds and 
sticks, and loose stones piled up, and were covered with grass, 
bark, the palm-leaf, etc. So abject is the population of this ridge, 
that many of the families are real troglodytes, living in caves or 
burrows, like so many rabbits. The women seemed to be pro- 
lific in proportion to their poverty ; as every hut and cavern was 



116 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



filled with naked children. These wild little creatures peered at 
us from their holes and hiding-places, like so many elves, which 
we should certainly have taken them to be, had we visited their 
eyre by moonlight. 

In the evening, a couple of Mexican officers, who had been 
paroled at Vera Cruz, called on General Scott. One was a lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and the other a captain of artillery. They had 
been as far as Puebla, and were now on their return to Jalapa. — 
One of them begged a few dollars, which the general ordered to 
be given him, to pay his way ! and both of them spoke in terms 
of great harshness of Santa Anna, who, as they averred, had de- 
prived them of their pay, because they had refused to break their 
parole and join him at Cerro Gordo ! This allegation of the 
faithlessness of the Mexican general, in the matter of parole, was 
afterward corroborated by indisputable evidence. 

Just before we entered the town, a party of a hundred or more 
lancers scampered off. We occupied the house in which they 
had been quartered, and found abundance of forage for our 
horses in the stable-yard, in which they had rather hastily " sad- 
dled up," 

The view from our balcony was striking and unique. We 
seemed to be in the center of an extensive valley, and land- 
locked — to use an expressive sea phrase — by tall mountains of 
every conceivable form. The evening sky was overcast, and a 
dull leaden hue pervaded alike mountain-top and plain below. — 
As the shades of night began to fall, the most perfect quiet reigned 
in every direction, and the landscape of "still life " produced a 
saddening and depressing effect upon the beholder. His feelings 
seemed to partake of the somber coloring in which all nature was 
sinking to rest. As our quarters were removed some distance 
from those of the main body of the escort, and our household 
consisted of only eight persons, we found it necessary, as a pre- 
caution against surprise, to set a watch ; each one of us taking the 
"look out" for an hour. My tour passed without incident. Be- 
fore the expiration of my watch, I was obliged to wrap myself 
more closely in the folds of my serape, as it had now become 
quite cold ; the blinking of the snow, on the top of Orizaba, almost 
giving me a chill. 



CHAPTER YI. 



Continuation of journey from Jalapa to Puebla — The road from Tepeahualco 
to Ojo de Agua — Hacienda of San Jose — Napolucan; its beautiful situation 
in the heart of a fertile district — The indigence of its inhabitants — the Pass 
of the Pinal — a famous retreat for banditti — Hacienda where General 
Mexia was shot — The town of Acajete — Encampment for the night — In- 
terview with the cura and the alcalde — Ignorance of these officials — First 
view of the volcanoes of Puebla — Amosoque — the great spur manufacto- 
ry — The plain of Puebla — Approach to the city — Our Lady of Loretto — 
Met by generals Worth and Quitman, and escorted into the city — Descrip- 
tion of Puebla — Tlascala and Cholula — Puebla as a manufacturing dis- 
trict — Cultivation and manufacture of cotton — Other manufactures — Agri- 
culture^ — Price of labor — The Mozo system. 

We resumed our march, a little before eight, the next morn- 
ing. As we were filing out of the town, we discovered that a 
number of outsiders — that is, gentlemen black-legs — had over- 
taken us, and joined our escort, in violation of orders. There 
were only six or eight of them, and these men had traversed the 
whole distance between Perote and Tepeahualco, in utter con- 
tempt of the enemy. They were all turned back. They, no 
doubt, brought up our rear, however, at a safe distance, both from 
General Scott and the enemy, as I afterward found some of them 
dealing faro and monte in Puebla. The country through which 
we rode for several hours, presented the same barren and dreary 
aspect it had done the day before. The sky continued overcast, 
and the crests of the surrounding mountains were covered by 
banks of dull gray clouds, that reached half w^ay down their 
sides. We occasionally passed through fields of pumice-stone, 
and now and then came upon a few straggling and squalid huts be- 
longing to the rude Indians, who were the herdsmen of the neighbor- 
ing haciendas. We witnessed the mirage again this morning ; the 
illusory lake reflecting one or two houses that stood on the neigh- 
boring heights. The plain still continued on a dead level, and 
the road was firm and compact, save where it was covered by an 

(117) 



118 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



occasional patch of sand. The only growth of the mountains, 
many of which rose, like Mount Pizarro, abruptly, and singly in 
the midst of the plain, was a stunted species of fern, and that 
universal denizen of barren districts, the prickly-pear. This 
latter appeared at intervals on the plain also, and instead of the 
diminutive plant it is with us, grew to the height of from twenty 
to thirty feet. After we had journeyed some three hours, the 
plain branched off to the northward, between two parallel ridges 
of mountains, and presented a lengthy vista of meadow-land, 
better covered with grass than that portion of it which skirted 
our road. N umerous herds of cattle were feeding on this mea- 
dow; and far away in the distance, were seen the w^hite-washed 
houses and tall church-steeples of the village of San Juan de los 
Llanos, containing about three thousand inhabitants. About mid- 
day we halted, for half an hour, at Vireyes, a hacienda pic- 
turesquely situated at the very base of a steep mountain ridge. 
Here we procured chocolate, and pulque, and gave water to our 
horses — this being the only watering place between Tepeahualco 
and Ojo de Agua, where we proposed halting for the night. — 
The whole plain from Perote to this latter point — a distance of 
thirty-five miles — is impregnated with mineral substances, and the 
water, which has to be drawn up from a great depth, is very indif- 
ferent. Around this hacienda were grouped, as usual, the straw 
huts of the miserable dependents of the estate. 

After leaving Yireyes, the country, though still almost a desert, 
improved somewhat in appearance. We passed, on our left, quite 
an extensive corn-field ; but the land was sandy and poor, and 
judging from the stalks of the preceding year, which were lying 
in a field on the opposite side of the road, the crop did not promise 
to be very abundant. The weather, which had been cool enough in 
the morning, to bring into requisition our overcoats, now moderated, 
and the sun bursting forth, soon began to make us feel uncomfor- 
table beneath his ardent and nearly perpendicular rays. The re- 
flection of the heat from the naked soil, especially while passing 
through an occasional gorge or ravine, where there was not a 
breath of air stirring to mitigate it, became really oppressive, and 
we had a most uncomfortable ride for several hours. The great 
objection to the climate of this portion of the table lands of 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



119 



Mexico is, these alternations of heat and cold, which are excessive. 
In the course of a single day, one sometimes passes through sev- 
eral changes, from winter to summer, and vice versa. The nights 
are always cold ; and many of us, accustomed to northern climates, 
suffered exceedingly from the penetrating keenness of the frosty 
air. Although the direct rays of the sun were fierce, the atten- 
uated atmosphere received but little heat during the day ; and the 
consequence was, that the moment these rays were withdrawn, 
either by the intervention of a stratum of clouds, or the falling of 
night, an unmitigated cold set in. The radiation and dispersion 
of the heat absorbed by the soil were rapid, for the same reason. 

As we approached the hacienda of San Yicenzio, an agreeable 
change came over the face of the scenery. The aridity of the 
soil disappeared. Small streams of water issued from the moun- 
tain sides — which we were skirting — and winding their way 
through, and irrigating the plain, produced a rich carpeting of 
grass, on which were feeding herds of cattle and flocks of sheep — 
pleasant objects of contemplation for an invading army, which 
was henceforth to depend upon the country for subsistence. The 
hacienda of San Yicenzio itself, was one of the neatest we had 
seen in Mexico. The houses of the quasi slaves were built of the 
limestone so abundant throughout the plain, and were whitewashed, 
and presented otherwise the appearance of thrift and comfort. 
We beheld here, in proximity with a neat little church, the novel 
spectacle, for Mexico, of a school-house. One league farther, and 
we arrived at our destined camping place, Ojo de Agua. This 
is a mere hostel and corral surrounded by a few of the comfortless 
huts of the Indian laborers, belonging to the place. It takes its 
name — eye of water — from a remarkable fountain, which, gushing 
out of the ground in great volume, forms, at its very source, a 
respectable rivulet. From this point, a beautiful and extensive 
savanna, covered with the richest verdure, extends for many miles 
southward, until it is bounded by the distant mountains. The 
meandering of the little stream, and its fertilizing effects, may be 
traced to a great distance ; and the beauty of the landscape is 
much increased by several isolated hills that rise abruptly and pic- 
turesquely from the bosom of this sea of waving grass, and are 
crowned with cultivation and with forest trees. Toward night, a 



120 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



keen wind from the north-west, aided by an overcast and murky 
sky, made it so cool, that we found another application of our 
seizes necessary. The supplies of the place, in the wav of food, 
were meager, being limited to fresh beef, which we had caused to 
be killed after our arrival ; but as we of the quarter-master's de- 
partment traveled with a baggage wagon of our own, into which 
was now and then thrust an unfortunate fowl, as one could be 
picked up on the road — duly paid for, according to general or- 
ders — and as Auguste had found a regular cocuia, wherein to light 
his fire and unpack his pots and kettles, we were entirely inde- 
pendent of the state of the provision market, and of the hotel ac- 
commodations of the place ; which latter were at about zero. The 
same party of lancers which we had flushed at Tepeahualco, again 
gave spurs to their horses, as we approached this place. 

The Indian population of Ojo de Agua — we saw onlv three or 
four white persons — were rude and fierce-looking savages, scowl- 
ing as much as they dared in our presence. Indeed, the popula- 
tion of the whole country between Jalapa and this point, seemed 
to be very mimical to us ; and if they had but added courage to 
this feeling, so as to dignify it into patriotism, it might have chal- 
lenged our respect. : but it seemed to be the effect of ignorant 
prejudice, and of a feeling of caste ; which latter feeling, indeed, 
we found very strong, even among the more enlightened classes. 

Having dispatched a smoking breakfast of beefsteak and coffee, 
we were in the saddle, the next day, at our usual hour. The morn- 
ing, as the mornings had been for several days previous, was cool 
and cloudy, and the scenery was shorn of half its beauty, by dnll 
banks of vapor, that obscured the neighboring mountains. Ori- 
zaba alone reared his tall peak above the region of clouds. One 
league from Ojo de Agua we passed the hacienda of San Jose, 
where was a remarkably neat church, with a well turned dome 
covered with Dutch tiles, whose vivid and various colors gave it a 
pleasing effect. The country on both sides of us was now much 
improved in aspect. Cultivation began to be more frequent, and 
flourishing fields of young corn, extending over many acres, occa- 
sionally greeted and gladdened the eye, hitherto wearied with 
roaming over barren and unproductive wastes. A ride of a couple 
of hours brought us to the town of Xapolucan — the avenue lead- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



121 



ing to which was agreeably flanked by fruit, and other trees. We 
observed here, the graceful, feathery mimosa, which we afterward 
found so abundant in the valley of Mexico. Napolucan is situated 
on a gentle eminence overlooking an extensive plain. It is a 
straggling village, and the gardens and streets are hedged in by 
the maguey, giving it a unique and picturesque effect. A large 
well-built church was the only structure of any moment. Beside 
some eight or ten houses of stone, used principally as cafes and 
fondas > the remainder of the habitations were miserable huts, 
filled with an indigent population. In the midst of this fine agri- 
cultural region, we could not but be struck with wonder at the 
squalor and wretchedness displayed by these poor people. Prince- 
ly haciendas arose, like so many Italian villas, in various direc- 
tions, as the eye glanced over the plain, giving evidence of luxury 
and wealth in th^ir proprietors, while the poor helot of an Indian, 
the " hewer of wood and the drawer of water " to these extensive 
domains, scarcely possessed wherewith to cover his nakedness. I 
was tempted to exclaim with Madam Roland, "Oh ! liberty, what 
crimes are committed in thy name !" We found at the door of 
one of the fondas, a man armed with an escopeta — a kind of short 
musket — whom we at first made prisoner, but afterward released ; 
taking away from him his weapon, for which he begged hard, decla- 
ring that he only intended it for the defense of his hacienda 
against robbers. He had come in, he said, to engage a company 
of ten or a dozen men to defend him against his own countrymen ! 

Descending from the hill on which ^apolucan is situated, we 
entered upon an extensive and well-cultivated plain, that spread 
out for many leagues on either hand, and ran as far as the eye 
could reach into the gorges of the mountains. As we wound 
through this plain and over occasional slopes, scenes of peculiar 
beauty and grandeur continually presented themselves. Indeed, 
on these elevated tables of the interior of Mexico, traversed as 
they are in every direction, by ranges of lofty mountains, new 
beauties are continually bursting upon the sight of the astonished 
and delighted traveler. On the apex of another small eminence, 
over which our road ran, we passed the hacienda of Floresta ; 
consisting, as usual, of a church, a corral, and a cluster of small 
houses. We purchased here a supply of food for our horses. 
11 



122 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



Leaving this hacienda, our road wound round the base of a 
mountain called the Pinal, for two or three miles. At the venta 
del Pinal — a small inn — we halted for an hour to rest and water 
our animals. We obtained here a cup of coffee, and a lunch of 
fried eggs and frijoles — which viands the landlord, who had re- 
ceived timely notice of our expected arrival, had already prepa- 
red for us. The approach of the * 'invading army" had no terrors 
for landlords, as we always left them with replenished coffers. 

Soon after leaving the venta, we entered the pass of the Pinal ; 
which is another of those denies that guard the road to Mexico. 
The mountain of the Pinal, along the base of which we were tra- 
veling, rose abruptly on our left, while a barranca, or ravine, that 
formed the bed of a mountain torrent — now dry — skirted the road 
on the right. The scenery resembled that of many parts of our 
Alleghany mountains. This pass is famous, in the legends of 
travelers, for the many robberies which have been committed in 
it, by the bandits who infest the neighborhood. The line of road 
between Perote and Tepeahualco, and the pass of the Pinal are 
the two points most dreaded by wayfarers, in their passage to and 
from the capital, and they usually procure escorts of the military 
to enable them to pass these points in safety. 

We met here the Spanish consul-general, running away from 
the capital with his family, to avoid the anticipated horrors of 
war. His party occupied several antique, lumbering coaches, 
drawn by four and six mules each, and was escorted by a few 
Mexican lancers, and half a dozen of our dragoons, whom Gene- 
ral Worth had detailed for the purpose, in Puebla. By the hands 
of one of these, General Scott received a dispatch from General 
W T orth, informing him that the enemy was gathering in force near 
the city of Mexico, and threatened us with another battle. The 
news would have been received with three cheers, but for the 
restraints of discipline, and the presence of the general. 

A short distance beyond the Pinal, we passed a hacienda, 
which one of the many acts of treachery of Santa Anna had ren- 
dered somewhat famous. Having defeated General Mexia, in one 
of the revolutions of the country, he afterward decoyed him to 
an interview here, through the mediation of a friend, and basely 
shot him, in cold blood ! 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



123 



About four o'clock in the afternoon, we reached the pleasantly- 
situated town of Acajete, containing about fifteen hundred inhabi- 
tants, and encamped in it for the night. We took up our quarters 
in a private house, with a grocery-store or grog-shop under the 
same roof, where there was plenty of aguardiente and garlic for 
sale. We sat down to dinner in an hour after our arrival, so ex- 
pert had Auguste become in performing his important part of the 
duties of the campaign ; and after dinner, Seymour spread me a 
capital bed on the dinner table. Our horses were picketed in the 
yard with the ducks and chickens and the family donkey. There 
were no less than three large churches in this small village. We 
visited the principal of these in the course of our afternoon stroll, and 
inspected the usual quantity of carving and gilding, and bad paint- 
ing. The building itself was venerable for its antiquity, and was 
prettily situated on one side of the plaza, which was covered with an 
inviting green-sward, on which a troop of our cavalry had en- 
camped. The horses picketed in double lines, the white tents, 
contrasting with the sward beneath, the camp-fires, and the mo- 
ving to and fro of the 4 'bold dragoons," presented an animated 
and pleasing picture. We had quite a levee, after nightfall, in the 
general's quarters ; the cur a and other dignitaries being present. 
The cura was anxious to know whether the Catholic worship was 
openly tolerated in the United States, and one of the lay gentle- 
men inquired whether we had not the agreeable and convenient 
custom of marrying for six months at a time ! We were aston- 
ished at the ignorance displayed by these people, on the most com- 
mon questions of geography and history. They had, no doubt, 
called on the general to see for themselves, whether he was the 
Alaric or the Attila, they heard him represented to be. We killed 
here several beeves for the troops, and the poor Indians gathered 
around, as the process was going on, to beg for the offal ! 

We were again in motion at eight o'clock the next morning. It 
had snowed, during the night, on the top of the Malinche, at the base 
of which is situated Acajete, and a keen north- wind rendered the 
weather quite cold — so much so, that we wrapped ourselves, at 
starting, in our overcoats and serapes. As we rose a slight emi- 
nence, soon after leaving Acajete, the splendid view of the volca- 
noes of Puebla burst upon us, and after the first exclamations of 



124 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



surprise and admiration had passed, we rode along for some time 
in silence, absorbed by the grandeur of the spectacle. Ahead of 
us, rose the majestic Popocatapetl, to the height of 17,700 feet 
above the level of the sea ; and a little to the right, Iztaccihuatl , 
to the height of 15,700 ; the former presenting the appearance of 
a regular cone, with some two thousand feet from its summit down- 
ward, covered with snow, and the latter, a nearly horizontal ser- 
rated ridge, on which the snow lay fantastically piled, like so many 
fleecy clouds. The rays of the morning sun gave a brilliant and 
dazzling effect to these snow-crested peaks of the Andes, and the 
nearer landscape was exceedingly picturesque ; an extensive val- 
ley running away many leagues to the left, between receding 
mountains, well cultivated in maize and barley, and broken by 
occasional patches of woodland. The barley — it was now the 
28th of May — was just beginning to indicate, by its golden hue, 
its fitness for the sickle. On our right, the country was more un- 
even in surface, and was cut up into small fields by hedges of 
maguey. 

A ride of two hours and a half, brought us to the thrifty little 
manufacturing town of Amosoque, which contained about two 
thousand inhabitants, and was the largest village we had passed 
through since leaving Perote. It is celebrated, more than any 
other locality in Mexico, for its manufacture of spurs ; and most 
of us availed ourselves of the opportunity of arming our heels 
anew with this knightly appendage. They are made entirely by 
hand, without the aid of other than the most simple machinery, 
and some of them were very fair specimens of art, being fancifully 
and ingeniously inlaid with gold and silver. The rowels were 
enormously large, some of them measuring an inch and a half in 
diameter. I am not sure but Seymour's, who began now to ape 
the air of a dragoon, and who had picked out the largest pair he 
could find, measured even more. We spent the hour we halted 
here very agreeably, in wandering through the different spur and 
saddle manufactories, and in inspecting, in company with the 
general and the padre, the principal church. 

In the yard of this neat and well-kept building, were several 
magnificent yew trees, which grew to a great height and attracted 
our attention by being covered with a beautiful creeper filled with 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



125 



scarlet flowers, called the yedra; the two thus formed a living 
cone of green and red in striking contrast. The interior of the 
edifice was rich in paintings — many of them of merit — and in 
ornaments of gold and silver ; and the padre took evident pride 
in showing us through its various parts, and pointing out to us 
the objects of most interest. The inhabitants of Amosoque re- 
ceived us with something lik® cordiality — probably due to General 
Worth's popular rule in Puebla, only ten miles distant, and which 
he had occupied two weeks before — paying General Scott, in par- 
ticular, marked respect, as he passed through the streets, and not 
unfrequently stopping to gaze with evident admiration upon his 
large and commanding figure. 

The country from Amosoque to Puebla, is quite uninteresting, 
if we except the magnificent mountain scenery already described. 
The road runs through a region almost entirely devoid of cultiva- 
tion, being flanked on the left by ranges of barren and sun burned 
hills, and on the right by a valley which, with the exception of an 
occasional patch of maize or field of indifferent barley, was almost 
as forbidding in aspect. Large masses of porphyritic rock — the 
substratum of the whole valley or plain of Puebla is porphyry — 
now became frequent, fragments of it rendering the road exceed- 
ingly rough for the wagons. We caught our first view of Puebla 
from a slight eminence, some six miles from the city. The effect 
was not at all imposing ; the city being situated in a plain, and 
but a small portion of it being visible. It is unfavorably con- 
trasted, too, with natural objects of extraordinary grandeur and 
sublimity. Standing in the midst of an almost boundless plain, 
and at the base, as it appears at first sight, of the giant volcano 
Popocatapetl, it dwindles to a mere point in the landscape, and 
becomes comparatively insignificant. The most prominent object, 
upon approaching it, is the church of " Our Lady of Loretto," 
situated on an isolated hill on the right of the road, and within 
good mortar-range of the plaza. Our flag floated proudly from 
this eminence, and several pieces of artillery frowned from its 
battlements ; General Worth having taken possession of it, and 
stationed a small garrison in the church, the better to hold the city 
in check. The walls were lined with our troops, looking down 
upon us an affectionate welcome, as we rode past. 



126 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



We now entered upon a splendid causeway, flanked on either 
side by pillars of porphyry, and were very soon afterward joined 
by generals Worth and Quitman, accompanied by a numerous 
cortege of officers, all superbly mounted, and glittering in the blue 
and gold of their undress uniforms. The greeting of the generals 
was cordial, and as this gay cavalcade, arrayed in the "pomp and 
panoply of war," intermingled with our travel-worn and dust- 
covered escort, the contrast was striking. In the suburbs of the 
city we passed through one of the seven garitas, or internal cus- 
tom-house gates, that serve, in Puebla, as elsewhere in Mexico, to 
harass and destroy the inland commerce of the country; and soon 
afterward we came upon the Alameda, on our right. The latter 
part of our day's ride had been over a dusty road, and beneath 
the rays of a scorching sun, and the sight of splendid avenues 
of linden trees, green-sward, and the running streams of water, 
that meander through this city -forest, gave it a peculiar charm. 
We had now, indeed, entered an oasis. Opposite to the Ala- 
meda stands the imposing church of San Jose, whose spire is 
remarkable, both for its symmetry and great height. Beneath 
some fine shade-trees, in front of this building, a regiment of in- 
fantry was drawn up, as a guard of honor, to receive the general- 
in-chief. As we rode past, this corps of veterans "presented 
arms," at the roll of the drum, and the general gracefully un- 
covered himself in return for the courtesy. This ceremony over, 
a fine band of music struck up, and as its martial tones reverbe- 
rated through the streets, commingled with the scarcely less 
musical clanking of sabres, and clattering of hoofs over the pave- 
ments, I sat more erect in my saddle and experienced a glow of 
pride, such as an American might be supposed to feel, on so proud 
an occasion. We were now in the heart of the enemy's territory, 
and in secure possession of the second city of the republic. Those 
of us who had not before visited Puebla, were struck with its 
great size, and the imposing appearance of its well-built streets ; 
the splendor of its shops, the rattling of its coaches — a thing new 
to us, in Mexico — the general air of business and activity every- 
where prevalent ; and above all, with the picturesque coup d'ozil 
of both town and people — the balconies and house-tops being 
crowded with spectators. The general and suite alighted at the 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



127 



government house, where General Worth had prepared a splendid 
banquet in honor of the occasion. The reader will be surprised 
to be told, that General Scott's whole escort consisted of but two 
hundred and sixty dragoons ! With this small force he had per- 
formed the entire march from La Hoya, leaving General Twiggs 
so far in the rear, after the first day's march, as to be entirely 
beyond " supporting distance." It would have been no small 
triumph for the enemy to have captured General Scott ; but, as the 
reader has seen, no attempt was made to molest us. 

The plain of Puebla lies at an average elevation of seven thou- 
sand feet above the level of the sea, and is rather nearer to the 
Atlantic than to the Pacific ocean. It is, in proportion to extent, 
one of the most populous states of the Mexican confederacy, con- 
taining about fifty inhabitants to the square mile. But populous 
as it is, comparatively with the rest of the republic, it does not 
contain, by several hundred thousand, as many inhabitants as it did 
in the days of Cortez. The plowshare is now passed over the ruins 
of towns and villages, that were prosperous and powerful during 
the war of "the conquest." The towns of Tlascala and Cholula — 
the former situated about twenty-five miles north of the modern 
city of Puebla, and the latter six miles west — with their respective 
territories, were at that day formidable and rival states, maintain- 
ing- armies, and carrvino- on wars on a scale, that would do no 
discredit to modern nations of much more considerable extent. In 
one of his letters to Charles V, Cortez describes the city of Tlas- 
cala as being superior to Granada, in Spain (then recently con- 
quered from the Moors), in point of size and population, in the 
style of its houses, and in the abundance of the necessaries of life. 
Thirty thousand people, he said, might have been seen daily traf- 
ficking in the market-place. It was a sort of Lacedaemon in the 
new world. Its people were poor, warlike, temperate, and honest; 
coping with the great city of Mexico itself, and manfully main- 
taining their independence ; while the other nations around them 
were being successively subdued by the all-powerful Aztecs, 
under the lead of the great Montezuma. The form of their 
government was republican; the chief executive and legislative 
power being lodged in a senate of more or less popular organiza- 
tion. They at first refused Cortez leave to pass through their 



123 



GENERAL SCOTIA CAMPAIGN 



territory, and raised an army to oppose him, but being defeated 
in several engagements, they finally concluded a treaty of alli- 
ance, offensive and defensive, with him ; and when this great 
captain marched to the siege of Mexico, they supplied him with a 
quota of twenty thousand men. His conquest of Mexico was 
mainly due to the assistance he derived from these people ; and 
for many years afterward, when the great mass of the native 
population had been reduced to the servitude of mcomiendag and 
repartimierdos, they were allowed, in gratitude for these services, 
many privileges that were withheld from the other Indians. It 
was those hardy inhabitants of the plain of Tlascala who per- 
formed, for their great ally, the extraordinary feat of cutting and 
fashioning, in their mountains — under the superintendence of 
Spanish ship-carpenters — the frames :: the fleet :: galleys, ~hich, 
to the astonishment of the Mexicans, was afterward launched upon 
the lakes, and of carrying those huge pieces of timber on their 
shoulders to Tezcoco, where they were put together. The staunch 
little republic numbered, at that time, five hundred thousand in- 
habitants. The town of Tlascala still exists, surrounded by the 
dilapidated walls which defended it in that day ; but instead of 
* ' thirty thousand traffickers in the market-place," the total popu- 
lation has dwindled to between four and five thousand ! 

The ancient city of Cholula, the enemy of Tlascala, was also a 
renowned and populous city at the time of the conquest. It con- 
tained, according to Bernal Diaz, forty thousand houses ; which, 
allowing five inhabitants for each house, would give it two hundred 
thousand inhabitants ; rather more than there are in the city of 
Mexico at the present day. It was a sort of Mecca ( Quetzalcoatl, 
or the white man who had taught the Aztecs civilization, having 
been last seen here, as the Indians believed), and contained the 
enormous number of five hundred religious temples, to which the 
natives were wont to resort to offer up their sacrifices, at certain 
seasons of the year, from all parts of the kingdom. Commerce 
was blended with religion, and extensive fairs for the sale of all 
kinds of merchandise were held at the same time. Cholula ex- 
celled all competitors in manufactures and the arts. Her cotton 
goods, earthenware, jewels, and other products, were celebrated 
throughout the land. The notorious massacre, perpetrated here 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



129 



bv Cortez, is, no doubt, familiar to the reader. Under the 
belief, real or pretended, that the people, whose guest he was, 
meditated treachery against him, he put six thousand of them to 
the sword ; and partially burned, and sacked the city, carrying 
oft with him all the jewels, and gold and silver he could lay his 
hands upon ! The ancient glory of Cholula has departed, but the 
city still exists — its population having dwindled to between two 
and three thousand ! 

As of Tlascaia and Cholula. so of other places once populous 
and important on the plain of Puebla — their inhabitants have 
ceased to exist ; and the modern Mexican plants his corn and 
his barley on the graves of the departed generations. Much 
of the soil, that must have been cultivated, anciently, to sus- 
tain so great a population, now lies waste and fallow. In the 
various mutations of time, new towns have sprung up, and com- 
merce has opened for itself new channels ; but improvement has 
not kept pace with change : and if civilization is to be measured 
by the aggregate of happiness it produces, we may question 
whether the new civilization is superior to the old. 

Puebla still maintains its superiority, as a manufacturing dis- 
trict, over the rest of the republic. Its temperate climate, enjoyed 
by means of its elevation, its abundant agricultural supplies, and 
the best of water-power in every direction, give it everv facility 
for becoming the great workshop of Mexico. Its chief products 
now, as in the days of the prosperity of Cholula, are cotton yarn, 
and cotton cloth ; both of which it produces of very o-ood quality. 
In the whole of Mexico, there were in operation in 1844, 117,531 
spindles — being an increase on the year before, of 10,823 — and 
2609 looms. Of these, Puebla possessed 38,094 spindles, and 
five hundred and thirty looms. The operatives work fourteen 
hours a day, and the average product of a spindle is five hanks — 
thirteen hanks making a pound — so that the total daily product 
(throughout the republic) amounts to 43,149 pounds ; which gives 
for the annual product — reckoning, as the manufacturers do, three 
hundred working days to the year — twelve millions, nine hundred 
and forty-four thousand, and seventy pounds of yarns, valued at 
86,472,350 00. The total consumption of the raw material 
amounts to 14,239,000 pounds, or, estimating three hundred 



130 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

pounds to the bale, to 47,464 bales. The number of pieces of 
cotton cloth produced, is, in round numbers, 500,000. These 
figures are taken from the memorial of the General Directory of 
National Industry, for the year 1845, and, of course, only present 
a view of the products of organized manufactories, as officially 
returned. To these, a large addition must be made for the pro- 
ducts consumed in the place of production, and of which no return 
is made, and for the results of private industry ; almost every 
hacienda, in Mexico, being a domestic manufactory, for the pro- 
duction of articles of prime necessity. 

This branch of manufacturing industry has received great 
impetus within the last few years, the legislature extending to it, 
as has been before remarked, a degree of protection, amounting 
to an absolute prohibition of foreign competition. This mode of 
fostering and building up a particular branch of industry, at the 
expense, in the beginning, of other interests, is, perhaps, less ob- 
jectionable in Mexico than in other states, from the nature and 
configuration of the country. There are no large rivers to afford 
facilities for commerce. Canals and railroads to connect the table- 
lands with the sea-coast, are, to a greater or less extent, imprac- 
ticable ; and hence, an entire stagnation of the agricultural inter- 
est must ensue, unless the superfluous hands employed in this 
branch of industry be withdrawn, and established in manufactur- 
ing and other pursuits, so as to counteract, at the same time, the 
tendency to over-production, and to ensure an inland market to 
the farmer and grazier. Mexico, for the want of facilities for 
transportation, exports nothing of bulk ; and unless, therefore, 
she can consume her agricultural products herself, her surpluses 
will rot on the hands of the producers. Not only will this be so, 
but in the midst of abundance, the indigence of large numbers 
who will be incapable of finding employment, must necessarily 
ensue. The reader, who has patiently accompanied me in my 
tedious march from Jalapa, has already witnessed the verification 
of this truth. 

But the rapid growth of the manufactories of Mexico, has out- 
stripped the capacity of the country to supply them with the raw 
material. Cotton is produced principally in the four states of 
Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Jalisco, and Michoacan (in the tier r as calientcs)^ 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



131 



and the crops have hitherto been anything but encouraging. In 
1844, the entire crop amounted to but two millions of pounds, or 
six hundred and sixty bales ! Four-fifths of that quantitv was 
produced in Yera Cruz and Oaxaca; the crops having failed 
entirely in the states of Jalisco and Michoacan. Nor was this an 
unusual accident, as the early and drenching rains, the worm, and 
hioh winds, frequently prove destructive to the hopes of the 
planter. In the prefecture of Acapulco, in this year, there were 
planted 3850 bushels of seed, and the total yield was only 447,- 
500 pounds of seed cotton, which, at six cents per pound — its 
value in the market — was worth $26,850. The cost of cultiva- 
tion amounted to the sum of §146,400 ! 

Indeed, so discouraging have been the efforts, hitherto, to pro- 
duce cotton in the tierra caliente, for the reasons I have assigned, 
that the planters are talking of abandoning its culture altogether 
in this region, and of removing to states farther north, as to Du- 
rango and Coahuila; where, from experiments partially made, 
there seems to be more hope of success. These states resemble 
more nearly, in their climate and physical peculiarities*, the cotton- 
growing states of our Union, and the plant may, no doubt, be 
domesticated here, to a greater or less extent. Its cultivation on 
the interior plateaus of the Cordilleras, as in the plains of Puebla 
and Mexico, has thus far signally failed — the climate being far too 
cold. The tree-cotton, which has more capacity to resist frost, 
flourishes here, and attempts are being made to propagate it. A 
single shrub of it has been known to yield, in a season, fourteen 
pounds. It is long-lived, there being trees in the country twenty- 
five years old, yields a wool of long staple, and owing to the 
little care required in its cultivation, may, some day, become a 
source of limited supply. 

It is thus seen that Mexico will have great difficulties to en- 
counter, in her efforts to build up a manufacturing system of her 
own in this important branch. She will have of necessity to 
depend, for a series of years to come, if not indefinitely, upon a 
foreign supply of the raw material. If she were to throw open 
her ports to the free admission of the article, we could supply her 
with it cheaper, perhaps, than she will ever be able to produce it ; 
and although this would interfere somewhat with her system of 



132 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



being her own producer as well as consumer, it would neverthe- 
less give a great impetus to her industry, and redound much to 
the national prosperity. But, unfortunately, her policy is ham- 
pered with antagonistic interests, and the cotton planter, as well 
as the manufacturer, demands protection. It is not denied that 
he ought, equally with the manufacturer, to have this, but the 
amount of the protection has been, and still is, the great bone of 
contention between them. The manufacturers are willing to 

o 

adopt a sort of sliding-scale, \>j which the price may be kept up 
to twenty -four cents per pound, but the planters complain that this 
would not enable them to realize a sufficient profit; and they have 
hitherto carried their point, to the great injury of the manufactur- 
ing interest 

Considerable attention is paid, in Mexico, to the manufacture of 
woolen goods, necessary at all seasons of the year on the great 
plains. All the coarse fabrics of this description, and many of 
the fine cassimeres consumed in the country, are the products of 
native looms. The tables of the Cordilleras and the highlands 
of the northern states, are eminently adapted to the growing of 
wool; and Mexico will, no doubt, if she persevere, excel in this 
department of manufacture. In San Miguel de Allende alone, 
they already manufacture serapes and other blankets, to the 
amount, annually, of $133,153. There are several of these manu- 
factories in Puebla. Silk is manufactured to a considerable extent 
in Michoacan, in the city of Mexico, and in Puebla, but it requires 
also, the protection of the government. The manufacture of 
paper has been introduced into the country within a few years 
past, and a large factory established at Puebla. It is called La 
Beneficencia, from the circumstance of the hospital for the poor of 
the city being principally interested in it. It employs eighty 
laborers — twenty of whom are boys, and twenty women, with 
two foreign superintendents. It works eighteen hours a day, and 
produces, daily, forty reams of printing paper, of the size of that 
used by the larger newspapers. The company designs extending 
its operations, so as to include other descriptions of paper, but its 
difficulty is the want of rags, which are not to be had in the 
country, of a suitable kind, and in sufficient quantities. As it is 
only paupers who sell rags, probably, these will not have suffi- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



133 



cient influence to demand the exclusion of the foreign article ; and 
if this be admitted free, the company thinks it will be enabled to 
import it, to advantage. I visited several of the porcelain manu- 
factories of Puebla. Very creditable wares are produced in 
some of them ; and this branch of industry, at least, requires no 
protection from the government. For the manufacture of soap, 
Puebla has peculiar advantages, as indeed has also the city of 
Mexico ; an excellent substitute for potash, which enters so ex- 
tensively into the manufacture of this article, being fouud in great 
abundance on the plain of the one, and in the neighborhood of the 
lakes of the other. On the plain of Puebla, it is not known 
whether this ingredient is evolved by the gradual decay of the 
volcanic remains which lie scattered in various localities, or is the 
result of the slow action of salt upon lime. The earth is saturated 
with it, and it can be extracted and sold at about one-fifth the 
price of the potash of the United States. 

Beside the larger manufactories of Puebla, there are hundreds 
of shops in different parts of the city, in which the busy artisan 
plies his trade on a small scale. Hats, shoes, harness, saddles, 
jewelry, etc., are manufactured to a considerable extent, and ex- 
ported to various parts of the republic. The artisans are, for the 
most part, Indians, and conduct almost all their operations by 
hand, with but little or no aid from machinery. In wandering 
through the city, I have often stopped to witness their slow and 
patient processes. An artist would sometimes be an hour and 
more in performing an operation which, by the aid of machinery, 
he could have accomplished in a minute. The saddlers, for 
instance, emboss almost all the leather used in the manufacture 
of their saddles, and other horse caparisons, and much of it 
elaborately. Instead of having proper dies, and a press moved 
by machinery, which would enable them to strike off a square 
yard or so, at a time, with the utmost patience and perseverance, 
they stamp the material with the hammer and a variety of small 
steel implements, inch by inch. They reminded me constantly 
of the Chinese, in the ingenuity they displayed in their several 
trades, and in the minuteness and elaborateness of their labor. 
Without genius to originate, they are apt imitators ; and under 
proper masters, and with a little more philosophy in aid of their 



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GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



several arts, they would, no doubt, become expert and highly 
productive workmen. One is struck with the great quantity of 
saddles manufactured everywhere in Mexico. Indeed, all the 
world travels on horseback in this country ; on mountain and 
plain alike, and in proportion to the universality of the practice, 
are the skill and ingenuity required in the adornment of the ani- 
mal. Every one who mounts a horse at all, mounts him en caba- 
Hero — as a cavalier — and be he gentle or plebeian, he must have 
a certain amount of finery for his steed. I inspected a saddle in 
one of the shops, which the maker, who was putting the finishing 
touches upon it, told me would cost eight hundred dollars ; nor 
was this by any means an unusual price. Stirrups of massive 
silver are frequently used, and jewels and ornaments of gold are 
not at all uncommon. 

Particular streets, or rather parts of streets, are devoted, each 
to its particular trade — the saddlers and harness-makers congre- 
gating in one street, the shoemakers in another, the hatters in 
another, the workers in silk and embroidery in another, etc. 

Beside the importance which Puebla derives from her manufac- 
tures, the city is situated in one of the finest grazing and agricul- 
tural regions of the earth. In its climate and productions, it resem- 
bles more the state of Pennsylvania, or Ohio, than a district of 
country in the torrid zone. Indian-corn, and other cereals flourish in 
perfection ; and herds of the finest beef-cattle range over meadows 
little less boundless in extent than our western prairies. So hap- 
py, too, is the location of this famous plain with regard to the 
tierras calientes — particularly to those on the Pacific side — that it is 
within less than a day's journey of all the products of the tropics ! 
On the other hand, a ride of a few hours carries you into the region 
of perpetual snow ! So that Puebla may be literally said to have 
within its reach all the known climates, and almost all the natural 
productions of the earth. With all these advantages of location; 
with great equability of temperature throughout the year; with a 
constant succession of crops, and with the brilliant, transparent, 
and elastic atmosphere peculiar to great elevations in the torrid 
zone, we cannot wonder that the plain of Puebla was the chosen 
Mecca of the ancient Aztecs, and was described by Cortez and 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



135 



his enthusiastic followers, as little less than a paradise, fit for the 
residence of the gods. 

A visit to the market-place, in this region of Ceres and Pomona, 
on a Sunday morning — Sunday being the principal market day — 
affords a novel and interesting spectacle. It is held in the princi- 
pal plaza of the city — there being no market-houses in Mexico, as 
I have before remarked — having the cathedral on one side, and 
the cabildo on the other, and covers several acres of ground. It 
has the appearance, as you approach it, of a busy encampment of 
Arabs. Each of the venders, or rather, each family of venders, 
for the whole family seems to come to market, the donkey, the 
dog, and all, has his little tent, formed by the petate of the coun- 
try, thrown over a ridge-pole sustained by upright sticks, and 
hanging like curtains on either side. Beneath this he takes shel- 
ter, with his effects, from the sun and rain. The gaily dressed — 
for even the market women love their finery, such as it is ; and 
then the reader must recollect that it is Sunday morning — and 
picturesque multitude, among which trip the tidy-looking house- 
maid, and the spruce mozo of the city, with their little market 
baskets of the palm-leaf in their hands, are moving about in 
crowds, and threading their way beneath and among these rude 
awnings, while at their feet lie piles upon piles of the richest and most 
luscious-looking fruits and vegetables. Flowers are intermingled 
with fruits, and with a little assistance from the fancy, one might 
imagine himself looking upon a rich offering to the goddesses of 
fruits and flowers, sent to them from all quarters of the habitable 
earth, rather than upon the productions of a few square leagues ; for 
within reach of his eye, if he take his station at any one point of 
the market-place, he will behold the apple, the pear, the peach, 
the plum, and the cherry of the tierras templadas, commingled in 
rich profusion, with the pine-apple, the banana, the orange, the 
mamey, the chirimoya, etc., etc., of the tierras calientes. We had 
about eight thousand men quartered in the city during our stay; 
and the addition of this number of mouths to the ordinary popu- 
lation of the place, seemed to make no difference whatever in the 
abundance of the supplies ; which, as the reader has seen, was 
also the case at Jalapa. 



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GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



Approaching Puebla by the road from Yera Cruz, the traveler 
does not see the fertile plains on which this great abundance is 
produced. They lie northward, on the roads to Tlascala and 
Mexico; westward in the direction of Cholula; and south-westward 
toward the slopes of the Pacific. From these luxuriant harvest- 
fields, the grains are gathered into Puebla, where extensive grist- 
mills convert them into flour; which we subsisted our troops upon, 
at as cheap a rate, notwithstanding the war, as the same article 
could have been purchased for, in New Orleans. Unfortunately, 
for the want of roads, rivers, and canals, before alluded to, all 
this agricultural wealth is locked up within the Cordilleras, with- 
out the possibility of exit ; and, if production be carried beyond 
a certain point, perishes on the hands of the producer. 

All this abundance is produced, too, by the most primitive and 
slovenly system of cultivation imaginable. In the vicinity of a 
large city like Puebla, containing about sixty thousand inhabit- 
ants, one would naturally expect to find, in this department of in- 
dustry, all the improvements in processes and implements, which 
we have introduced into the United States. But so far from this 
being the case, the agriculturist of the present day does not ap- 
pear to be a whit farther advanced, either in the science or the art 
of his calling, than he was a thousand years ago, on the plains 
of Seville and Madrid. He reaps immense fields of wheat and 
barley with the reap-hook, instead of using the scythe and cradle, 
and sometimes even pulls up the plant by the roots ! The plow, 
the reader has already had described to him, it being little better 
than a sharpened beam of wood drawn by oxen, and requiring 
two persons to handle it, one to manage the instrument, and the 
other to drive the team. But in a country where there are no 
markets, and where lands are fertile, and labor cheap and abun- 
dant, but little better can be expected. 

The average price of labor is about a real and a half a day — 
eighteen cents — and this is not always paid in money. The great 
majority of Indian laborers, on the larger haciendas, are in a 
much worse condition than the slaves of our southern states. I 
have described them, generally, in a previous page; but it may 
not be uninteresting to point out the process here, by which, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



137 



although enjoying, nominally, all the privileges of freemen, they 
are, in fact, reduced to a galling and life-long servitude. The 
owners of the haciendas first contrive ingeniously to get them in 
debt, by advancing them a small sum of money. A young In- 
dian born on an estate, for instance, having reached the age of 
maturity, wishes to get married, but has not the means to 
provide himself with suitable apparel, and make certain customary 
presents to the parents of his bride. He applies to the amo — mas- 
ter — who, with apparent liberality, advances him the requisite sum. 
In due time he brings home his bride, but being in debt to the 
amo, he must go to work to repay him. He cannot earn much 
at a real and a half a day ; and in the meantime he wants a new 
shirt, and his wife a new gown; but having no money to purchase 
them, he must have recourse to the amo again — who keeps a store 
for the supply of his estate, and is thus a sort of licensed sutler. 
The amo is content with reasonable profits, and does not charge 
him more than two or three hundred per cent, on first cost. By 
and by, children come, with their little wants, and as is frequently 
the case, the Indian himself becomes intemperate. His fate is 
now sealed, and he is bound hand and foot for life. He cannot 
leave his present master, as no one would employ him while his 
debt continues. If he desert, he will be apprehended and sent 
back, by the next magistrate, or imprisoned for his debt, until he 
will be glad to return to his servitude again. This system of 
slavery is called, in Mexico, the mozo system ; and, in Yucatan, I 
was more than once applied to, by likely young Indians, to buy 
them of their amos, for the small sum of thirty or forty dollars !* 
This is the boasted freedom of the Mexican soil, about which 
there has been so much senseless declamation in our congress, 



* How forcibly does not this state of things recall to our minds a passage 
of Caesar (lib vi, de Bello Gall.), written two thousand years ago, when 
speaking of the Gauls: "The common people are almost on a level with 
the slaves; of themselves they venture nothing; their voice is of no avail. 
There are many of that class, who, loaded with debts and tributes, or op- 
pressed by the powerful, give themselves up into servitude to the nobles, who 
exercise over those who have thus delivered themselves up, the same rights 
as over slaves/' 



12 



138 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



since the conclusion of the war. The well-fed and well-cared-for 
dependent of a southern estate, with us, is infinitely superior, in 
point both of physical and moral condition, to the mozo of the Mexi- 
can hacienda. The " hewers of wood and drawers of water " are 
slaves everywhere, as I have found ; and whether the slave is so, 
lege scrijrta, or lege necessitatis, is, as the lawyers say, a distinction 
without a difference. 



CHAPTER VII. 



Description of Puebla continued — The houses — the streets — the multitude—* 
Singular manner of naming streets — The aguadores, or -water-carriers — 
Snow and ice from the volcanoes — The grand plaza — The entry of General 
Worth into this plaza, and the extraordinary scene which there ensued— 
The cathedral — The burial-place of the bishops — The portraits of these, 
for three hundred years back — A visit to the palace of the archbishop — 
Gallery of paintings, and library of this establishment — Feast of Corpus 
Christi — A grand high mass in the cathedral — The clergy of Puebla — The 
churches and convents — The Paseos — The Tivoli, and its amusements — 
Social circles; manners, customs, etc. 

Having thus cast a rapid glance at the plain of Puebla, and in- 
cidentally at the city also, in a politico-economic light, let us now 
look more particularly at the latter, in a social view, and indulge 
in a little of the gossip of the traveler. The city is neatly and 
compactly built, and presents a very imposing tout ensemble. The 
streets tend to the cardinal points of the compass, and of course 
cross each other at right angles. They are wide and well paved, 
but have most incommodious side-walks — these scarcely sufficing 
for two or three persons to walk abreast on them. The streets 
have no names, or rather too many names, as each square is per- 
fectly independent of the rest, and has a name of its own. I am 
living at quartermaster "head-quarters," in the Calle del Reboso — 
that is, the block or square in which we live is called by this 
name. The adjoining block is called Calle de las Cruces. There 
are therefore in our street, twenty or thirty other streets. A bet- 
ter system, for bewildering a stranger, could not have been de- 
vised. For my part, I never pretended to find my way to any 
part of the city by inquiry. I scoured it, in every direction, for 
the first few days after my arrival, and having mapped it out in 
my head, sailed afterward by well-known land-marks, as church 
steeples, etc. When Seymour was along, I generally made him 
"take the departure," and "keep the reckoning." He soon be- 

(139) 



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GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



came very expert in this kind of navigation, and would sometimes 
say to me, as we returned home, " We have passed the steeple 
of San Jose, sir, and made the Graces on the starboard-bow ; 
we're not far, now, from the Reboso" The houses are, many of 
them, lofty, and are built of stone ; an abundance of the material 
being at hand in all directions — the whole substratum of the plain 
being, as the reader has been informed, of coarse porphyry, re- 
sembling granite in texture. Like all other Spanish, or Hispano- 
American houses, they are built round a patio, or open court. The 
lower story is appropriated to stables, coach-houses, kitchen, etc., 
the families residing on the upper floors. A corridor or portales 
run entirely around the patio, above and below, forming, in the 
upper stories, agreeable galleries, which are usually filled with 
flowers in vases. In those houses which can afford it, there is 
also a fountain in the center of the patio, ornamented with a taste- 
ful jet d'eau. There are flowers in vases grouped around this 
also, which give the patio, as you enter it, the appearance of a 
flower garden. The azoteas, or tops of the houses, are flat, being 
covered with brick laid in cement, to make them water-tight, and 
having fancifully-decorated parapets running round them, to the 
height of three or four feet. Thus, when the massive doors are 
swung to, below, and securely bolted and barred — and they re- 
semble the gates of a fortress — the Mexican is, in fact, as well as 
in law, " within his castle." And very effective castles our troops 
found them on many occasions. The street-fronts of the houses 
are exceedingly light and picturesque. The style of architecture 
is the Arabesque, copied by the Spaniards from the Moors, and 
much in use in Spain about the period of the conquest by Cortez. 
Many of the fronts of the houses are elaborated and adorned with 
moldings in plaster, and sculptures of stone in bas-relief, and have 
the tops of the walls fancifully painted and festooned with flowers. 
The facades are sometimes inlaid with fancy-colored tiles, which 
have a pleasing effect. Balconies project over the streets, from 
the doors and windows, tastefully railed with iron and painted 
some gay color. These balconies, filled with flowers, and with 
gaily-dressed women, and shaded by curtains and awnings of 
bright colors, give a remarkably picturesque effect to the streets ; 
especially on fete days, and during public processions. The 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



141 



streets themselves are filled, all day long, by a busy multitude, 
whose costumes, and modes of life, in connection with the quaint 
moresque style of the houses, would carry the beholder back, in 
imagination, some three centuries and a half in the history of 
Spain, but for a dashing dragoon or so, belonging to a newer race, 
and representing the progress of a newer civilization. The living 
and breathing "City of the Angels " has been almost as little 
modified by the lapse of time, and the passing of the stirring- 
events around it, as the city of stone and mortar. 

Puebla has many beautiful public squares, laid out and orna- 
mented with taste. In the center of each square there is a foun- 
tain, for the supply of water free of charge, to the inhabitants ; 
the water is conducted to these fountains from small streams de- 
scending from the neighboring highlands, and preserves so low a 
temperature, as to render the use of ice unnecessary. From the 
fountains, it is carried to the houses by a class of men called 
oguadores, who are a time-honored race in all Spanish cities, and 
hand down their profession from father to son. The aguador car- 
ries two enormous jars at a load — one slung behind him, with a 
leathern strap passing round the forehead, to keep it in position, 
and the other before him as a counterpoise. Thus loaded, with 
his body inclined forward at an angle of about thirty degrees 
from the perpendicular, and in a kind of amble between a walk 
and a trot, he may be seen passing to and fro, in his allotted beat 
or round, at all hours of the day, crying in a sort of monotone, 
"Agua pur of agua puro ! quien lo compra ?" — -fresh water ! fresh 
water ! who'll buy ? Beside these professional water-carriers, there 
are many Indian women and girls, who gather round these foun- 
tains, in their picturesque costumes, to supply their own wants, 
and those of their humble households ; and it is curious to observe 
the agility and precision of step and movement with which they 
will balance their well-filled jars on their heads, without so much 
as spilling a drop. 

Ice is brought for the supply of the neverias — ice-cream estab- 
lishments — and the few private houses which indulge in the luxu- 
ry, on the backs of donkeys, from the volcanoes of Popocatapetl, 
Iztaccihuatl, and the Malinche ; and your host at a dinner party 
will sometimes pleasantly ask you, whether you will have your 



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GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



wine cooled from the bosom of the ' 'white woman" (Popocata- 
petl), or from the foot-stool of the " great spirit" (Malinche). 

The most striking locality in the city, is the grand plaza, or 
place d' amies t situated near its center, It is here the market, 
before described, is held. A magnificent fountain, with a jet tiPeau, 
stands in the center of it, and, close by, an unfinished monument 
designed to commemorate the mvincibility of '''Heroic Puebla." 
This monument will probably never be finished, after the memo- 
orable feat performed in this same square by General Worth. — 
This gallant officer, as is well known, with but four thousand men, 
threw himself boldly into the heart of the enemy's country, and 
took possession of the city of Puebla, on the loth of May, 1847. 
His nearest supporting force was at Jalapa, the head-quarters of 
General Scott, and one hundred miles in his rear ! Puebla con- 
tains, as I have before said, sixty thousand inhabitants ; and at 
least ten thousand more from the surrounding country had flocked 
into the city to gratify their curiosity by looking upon the terrible 
Americanos del Xorte, whose fame, reallv great, had come to them 

' 'JO' 

magnified, ten-fold, by the tongues of rumor. Amid this im- 
mense multitude, blocking up the streets, and filling house-tops 
and balconies, the small, but veteran army of Worth, weather- 
beaten and toil-worn, and covered with the dust of the road, pa- 
tiently worked its way to the great plaza, where the soldiers, with 
that confidence in themselves and in their general which does so 
much honor to them both, stacked their arms, and laid them- 
selves down quietly to sleep after the fatigue of their long 
march ! 

On one side of this plaza stands the government house, an im- 
mense building running the whole length of the square (six hun- 
dred feet), and designed for the accommodation of the state legis- 
lature, the governor, and the chief military and other officers. 
General Scott established his head-quarters here ; and from the 
cupola, in the center of the building, our flag looked forth proudly, 
upon the same mountains, which three hundred years before had 
witnessed the wonderful deeds of the steel-clad warriors of the 
cross. On another side of this plaza stands the cathedral, whose 
massive walls cover an entire square, and whose dome and steeples 
towering above the surrounding buildings, are the first objects 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



143 



to be descried, far away over the plain, as you approach the city. 
Its steeples are hung with enormous bells, that resound several 
miles beyond the city limits, as in the still hours of the night they 
mark, with solemn tone, the flight of time. As I have been 
awakened from a dreamy slumber, by these deep-mouthed mes- 
sengers, I have, sometimes, fancifully connected them with the 
terrible gongs of the teocalli, or idol-temples of Mexico, so gra- 
phically described to us by Bernal Diaz, as proclaiming to Cortez 
and his besieging army, the awful preparations being made — 
generally at midnight— for the immolation of some unfortunate 
Spaniard, who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. 

With the exception of the archiepiscopal cathedral in the city 
of Mexico, this church is said to be superior to any other in the 
country, in the style and execution of its architecture, and the 
richness of its decorations. It struck me as being very fine in all 
these particulars. The massive grandeur, and at the same time, 
simplicity of its exterior, produces an impressive and pleasing 
effect upon the beholder, heightened by the vastness and magnifi- 
cence of the interior. Two rows of immense pillars of porphyry, 
hung with a rich scarlet velvet, support the well turned and inge- 
niously groined arches and dome, and divide the main building 
into three spacious aisles. The principal altar stands opposite the 
main entrance, on a raised dais, or platform of marble. It con- 
sists of marble slabs, of elaborate finish and polish, laid on a 
rectangular substructure of the same material, and of convenient 
height for the officiating priest. Above this, rise eight double 
fluted columns, of the Corinthian order, of the purest white marble, 
and with gilded capitals, supporting a light and tasteful dome, on 
the apex of which stands the golden figure of an angel, with out- 
stretched wings. Within this again, rise eight other columns of 
alabaster, of the Doric order, and supporting, in like manner, a 
dome ; so that the altar may be said to be canopied by two Grecian 
temples, of different orders, standing one within the other. On 
the altar itself are the massive silver candlesticks, with their waxen 
candles, measuring some three inches in diameter ; the sculptured 
figures, the custodium and other adornments of a Catholic chapel. 
Rich carpets are spread over the dais on which stands the altar ; 
and here, on high days and festivals, are celebrated the solemn 



144 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN. 



masses of the church. The symmetrical proportions of these two 
Grecian temples in miniature, and the richness of their sculptures, 
carvings and gildings, produce a wonderful effect upon the be- 
holder. He involuntarily pauses to pay to this triumph of art, 
the homage of his admiration and reverence. Arranged around 
the body of the building, are more than thirty other altars ! all 
rich in carving, gilding and painting — the massive carving reach- 
incr to the ceiling, and striking the imagination bv its grandeur, 
and the exceeding elaborateness of its execution. It is a fine 
sight, early on a Sunday morning, to behold all these altars lighted 
up at the same time, and a mass being said at each — each altar 
beino*, in fact, a church in itself, and gathering around it, its own 
circle of worshipers ! This will give the reader some idea of 
the magnitude of the building. 

The imposing effect always produced on the mind, by architec- 
ture on a grand scale, is somewhat destroyed, however, by the 
injudicious location of the choir. This has been placed on the 
ground-floor, and in the center of the building ; thus breaking in 
upon its vastness, and destroying the grand coup d'ceil, which it 
should be the first effort of an architect to produce — especially in 
buildings devoted to divine worship. Puritans may carp and cavil 
as they may, there can be no question that architecture, sculpture 
and painting, produce powerful devotional effects upon the wor- 
shiper, especially if he be a man of letters and refinement ; and 
it is as senseless to reject these aids, as it would be to exclude the 
orator from the pulpit. Why may not the imagination be ap- 
pealed to through the eye as well as the ear ? The man who 
hears his Maker in the winds, and beholds him on the mountain- 
tops, should both see and hear him in the magnificence of his 
temples, and in the eloquence of his priests. 

The choir corresponds, in the richness of its adornments, and in 
the grandeur of its proportions, with the rest of the building. It 
is railed in, and partially protected from the gaze of the multi- 
tude, by lattice- work and curtains. A gallery, elevated some 
thirty feet above the ground-floor, runs around the massive pillars 
which inclose the choir. This gallery is encircled bv a light iron 

O » JO 

railing, or balustrade, fancifully painted, and forms, as it were, a 
second story to the choir. In this second story are placed two 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 145 

splendid and richly-toned organs ; and here, also, are stationed 
the professional singers — the clergy and laymen who join in the 
chorus or chant, being stationed below, where antique and richly- 
carved arm-chairs of mahogany are placed for their accommoda- 
tion. An aisle, or passage-way, balustraded on both sides, leads 
from the choir to the main altar ; and beneath the floor of the 
choir is the burial-place of the bishops of Puebla, where each in- 
cumbent of the holy office may view, in succession, the dreary 
vault provided for his mortal remains. The access to this cata- 
comb of the dead, is through an immense brazen-gate, whose 
huge and massive dimensions convey well to the mind of the be- 
holder, the idea, that when it is once closed upon the mortal re- 
mains of those who enter it, they are, indeed, " in that bourn 
whence no traveler returns." In the three hundred and twenty 
odd years that have elapsed since the foundation of the city, 
Puebla has had a succession, including the present incumbent, of 
twenty-four bishops ; thus giving to each one a period of service, 
as bishop, of thirteen years and a fraction. Some of these having 
returned to visit their native land at advanced ages, have laid 
their bones in the homes of their fathers ; but most of them lie 
interred in this tomb. In the bishop's palace may be seen ar- 
ranged around the walls of an anteroom, the portraits of all these 
fathers of the church, from the first bishop and founder of the 
cathedral, who flourished cotemporaneously with Cortez, and 
was installed soon after the conquest, to the present venerable and 
highly respected prelate, the Right Reverend Father Yasquez. 
The name of the first bishop was Garces — he was an Arragonian 
by birth, and laid the foundation of the cathedral in 1525, six 
years after the great city of Tenochtitlan had fallen under the ju- 
risdiction of the Spaniards. It is curious to study the characters 
of these men, as they have been impressed upon the canvas. They 
are all robed in the vestments of the church, and are tonsured 
according to the discipline of the several orders of the priesthood 
to which they belonged. There is an air of piety visible in most 
of their faces — benevolence and good nature in some — austerity 
and harshness in others — while in a few you behold the mitred 
warriors of the age to which they belonged — making way for the 
dominion of the church by the dominion of the sword. I noticed, 
13 



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GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



among the rest, the portrait of the celebrated Palafox y Mendosa, 
who was both viceroy and bishop, early in the seventeenth century. 
There was more of the saint than the warrior in his countenance. 
Several jolly faces still bloomed freshly from the canvas, as though 
their possessors had not been unmindful of the creature comforts 
of their day. 

A review of these portraits carried us back through the various 
stages of Spanish domination in the country, and the no less griev- 
ous domination of the modern republicans ; affording us much 
food for reflection. We had before us the religious history of 
three centuries and a half, from the rebellion of Luther and Cal- 
vin against their churches, to the present generation, in which the 
christian doctrine, so simple in its origin, has been split and refined 
away by ambitious theorists, until men's minds have become be- 
wildered ; and the existence of a thousand different sects, admo- 
nishes us of the difficulty, if not of the absurdity, of attempting, by 
the aid of our reason alone, to find the " narrow way that leads to 
life eternal." 

In company with a messmate and two or three other officers 
of the army, I visited, by appointment, the palace of the bishop. 
It is an immense quadrangle, covering nearly an entire square, 
and inclosing three large patios, in one of which were choice speci- 
mens of fruits and flowers. We here again saw the splendid 
creeper called the yedra, with which we had been so much struck 
at Amosoque. It had climbed a tall pine, which it had so com- 
pletely covered in every part, as not to leave a single leaf of the 
tree visible ; and formed, as before, a living cone of the deepest 
green, dotted profusely with tiny scarlet flowers. Having entered 
the gateway of the principal patio, we ascended to the second 
story of the building, by a flight of wide stone steps, over one of 
the landings of which hung a painting most appropriate to adorn 
the threshold of a bishop's palace. It was the Virgin Mother 
and infant Saviour — the latter feeding a flock of sheep ; thus ad- 
monishing the holy father, as often as he went forth into the world, 
of his duty to " feed his flock." Reaching the portales, or corri- 
dor of the second story, encircling the patio of the building, in 
which were hung also several paintings of a religious character 
(and but indifferent execution, as the reader might suppose, from 



EH THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



147 



the exposed situation in which we found them), we were led 
through a room in which there was a specimen of the famous 
Gobelin tapestry ; thence through another, containing the portraits 
of the bishops, before noticed ; and finally into a suite of other 
rooms, where, to our astonishment and surprise, we found one of 
the largest and best collections of pictures in America. There 
were, save a piece or two by Murillo, one by Rubens, and one by 
Rafael, no originals of the great masters, but many copies which 
did no discredit to their famous pencils. We spent two hours in 
passing through these rooms, and had barely time to give a pass- 
ing glance of admiration to the most celebrated pieces. The pic- 
tures, though generally of a religious caste, were not entirely so. 
We noticed several of quite a mundane character, as the exit of 
the three Graces from the bath ; one of the nymphs playfully 
holding a mirror to the others, and all in such glorious dishabille, 
as would suffice, one would think, to quicken the lazy current of 
life in the veins even of an old bishop. There was a Magdalen, 
too. in which the lascivious, voluptuous woman was but imperfectly 
hid in the upturned eyes of the saint ; and if two little cherubs, 
that looked as much like cupids as cherubs, presenting her with a 
wreath of flowers, had been blotted from the picture, one's imagi- 
nation, instead of soaring aloft to heaven, would have been forci- 
bly called down to earth. The coloring — save that the hair, as it 
flowed in graceful profusion over the breast and arms, was scarcely 
dark enough to form a sufficient contrast — was most exquisite, and 
the attitude, one of perfect ease and grace. Our guides — the 
bishop himself, being absent at his country-seat — not being con- 
noisseurs, could not tell us by what pencil this gem of the arts 
had been produced. Indeed, this was the case with regard to 
most of the splendid paintings in the rooms, and having no cata- 
logue to assist us, we were obliged to depend upon our own re- 
collections of the subjects of the pieces, and the uncertain lights 
of style, of coloring, and composition of the various masters, for 
a knowledge of their respective works. There were two Fornarinas 
in the collection, one said to be an original by Rafael, and the 
other a copy. They were both very fine, and the original so per- 
fect a conception of a beautiful Italian face, that one felt half dis- 
posed to fall in love with it, himself. The adoration of the infant 



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Saviour by the wise men of the east, by Rubens, was perfect in 
the grouping of its figures ; the expression of awe and humility 
depicted in the faces of the worshipers ; and the rich coloring for 
which this great master is so celebrated . Having but little of the 
enthusiasm of the artist, although I am fond of good pictures, 
and none of the jargon of the professional critic, I will not weary 
the reader with a detailed description, or even an enumeration of 
the several pieces, good, bad and indifferent, which we alternately 
inspected. I will mention but one other which chained the atten- 
tion of us all, and to which we, nem. con. awarded the tribute of 
our admiration. It was evidently the production of some great 
master of the French school ; but of whom, we could not learn. 
The subject was the sick child ; and in point of conception, color- 
ing and execution, it was most perfect. It represented the little 
sufferer sitting on the lap of its mother, in the most natural atti- 
tude imaginable, with its head drooping, with half-closed eyes, 
upon its breast, in all the langour and lassitude of disease — its 
wasted arms hanging listlessly by its side, and the pallor of death 
in its beautiful features. But the expression of deep anguish and 
anxiety depicted in the mother's face, and the tearfulness of her 
eye, as she looked up to a picture of the Virgin in prayer, while 
the physician was feeling the pulse of the little sufferer, and 
seemingly meditating on the remedies to be applied, struck us as 
the triumph of art, indeed. 

From the picture-gallery we passed into the library, composed 
of about fifty thousand volumes, as we were informed, and dis- 
tributed in three several suites of rooms. The books were neatly 
packed in cedar cases (which spread an agreeable odor through 
the apartments), and were, as one might suppose, chiefly of a reli- 
gious character ; though history, law, medicine, the exact sciences, 
and the belles lettres claimed their share. All the old fathers of 
the church were there, in the dead languages, in which they 
respectively wrote, looking learned and forbidding in their parch- 
ment bindings, and brazen clasps ; all the polemics of the Italian 
school, and indeed everything which could throw a ray of light 
upon the origin and progress of the Christian religion. The lite- 
rature of these rooms was not all " black letter/' however. There 
were volumes here, to which the tired ecclesiastic might resort, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



149 



after a night's vigil over the ponderous tomes of the fathers, for 
cheerful amusement. I noticed, among the rest, a superb edition 
of Don Quixote, with plates, such as to look upon was to laugh. 
They showed us, here, among other curious and rare volumes, a 
fine old edition of the bible, published in polyglot, in London, by 
Thomas Roycroft, a. d., 1657. The text is arranged in parallel 
columns of Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Greek, and is compared with 
early translations in Samaritan, Greek, Chaldaic, Syriac, Arabic, 
Ethiopic, Persian, and the Latin vulgate. Elaborate and volumi- 
nous dictionaries and grammars of the Aztec tongue, and other 
connate Indian lancruao'es — works of the untiring and zealous old 
ecclesiastics who followed close upon the heels of the conquest — 
were also shown us. While the learned old priests were unlock- 
ing all these various stores of erudition for our inspection, we, of 
cuurse, looked wise, and like wise men, held our peace — limiting 
ourselves to venturing, now and then, upon a half-forgotten classi- 
cal allusion, as we chanced to recall some of the shreds and 
patches of our college learning. In this manner we passed, no 
doubt, quite creditably — considering that we were barbarians 
swarming fresh from our northern hive of land-robbers — through 
the musty ordeal of the salas of the library ; and I fancied, after 
breathing such an atmosphere, that I felt quite learned myself, 
until I emerged from the twilight into the open streets, and the 
glare of the sun, and the bustle of the busy multitude dispelled 
the illusion. Our visit to the bishop's palace vail long remain 
upon my mind as a pleasant reminiscence. My only regret is that 
I did not see the venerable old prelate himself, as he was spoken 
of as one of the sabios, or wise men of Mexico. He was repre- 
sented, however, by a very clever and agreeable priest, one of 
the professors in the adjoining college. We did not visit this 
latter building, but were informed it contained five hundred scho- 
lars — day scholars included. What a babel of confusion must 
be here, in the hours of study ! The most noisy of all schools in 
the world is a Mexican school, where it seems to be a part of the 
routine for each scholar to sing, in a sort of nasal monotone, his 
lesson, pretty much after the fashion he is taught to love his 
Maker, viz: '-'with all his might, with all his soul, and with all 
his strength.'' 



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GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



The feast of Corpus Christi occurring soon after our arrival in 
Puebla, we had an opportunity of witnessing the performance of 
a splendid high-mass at the cathedral, with the additional cere- 
monies customary on such occasions. The procession of the Host 
through the streets — one of those theatrical performances, which 
are carried to such injudicious lengths in all Spanish countries, as 
to bring discredit upon religion, rather than add to its solemnity — 
was dispensed with, in consequence of our hostile presence; the 
ecclesiastics fearing that some want of reverence or respect, on 
our part, might mar the ceremonies of the dav. In which, I am 
sure, they were in error, as there was the utmost disposition, on 
the part of both officers and men, to conform to the usao-es of the 
country, in all religious matters. Indeed, on ail occasions, they 
studiously avoided giving umbrage to the people, on this score, 
not only from motives of policy inculcated by the superior officers, 
but from individual good feeling, and a natural respect for religion. 
It was quite common to see our officers — Protestant as well as 
Catholic — kneeling before the altar, in the solemn parts of the 
mass ; which no: only produced a good effect upon the people, but 
was strictly proper in itself; as surely no one has a right to intrude 
himself into a house of worship, and outrage the devotional feelings 
of the congregation — whose private house it is — by non-conformity 
with their usages. Corpus Christi. beside being a high religious 
festival, was a holiday in town and country. All business was 
suspended in the city, and the shops, except those for refreshment, 
closed ; but the people having flocked in from the country in their 
gala dresses, and the towns-people too. giving themselves up to 
the feast, all was movement and festivity — religious and social 
conjoined. The bells of the city — of which there cannot be less 
than five hundred ! — rang forth their mingled peals of sadness 
and joy; and all the churches were thronged during a succession 
of masses, from early dawn to a late hour in the day. A fair 
compromise having been thus made with religion, in the morning, 
the good people, with a safe conscience, delivered themselves to 
the arch-enemy, in the afternoon. The refreshment-women of the 
portal es had their stalls dressed with a profusion of beautiful 
flowers, natural and artificial ; and boys and girls, in shrill and 
musical voices, cried their sweetmeats and lemonades through the 



IN THE VALLEF OF MEXICO. 



151 



streets ; each one having his or her waiter decorated with tiny 
flags, among which was to be seen that of the conquering stripes 
and stars ; which cunning device of the shrewd little itinerants 
extracted many a medio — sixpence — from the patriotic pockets of 
the soldiers. The grand plaza was literally crammed with its 
promiscuous crowd of men and women, some selling and others 
buying, but all in pursuit of pleasure ; the parti -colored petticoats 
of the women, and the gay serapes and fancifully decorated hats 
of the men, giving a most unique and picturesque effect to the 
busy multitude. All the paseos — public walks — where the com- 
manders of our regiments had considerately stationed bands of 
music — were thronged with cavaliers and pedestrians, and the 
pAaza de toros — square of bulls — was thrown open, for the first 
time since our arrival, and a bull-fight — that Celtic remnant of 
barbarism — closed the festivities of the day. In the evening, 
the careless and pleasure-seeking multitude assembled at the 
Tivoli gardens — hereafter to be described — where recreation and 
dancing were continued to a late hour in the night. 

The general-in-chief, attended by a numerous staff, glittering 
in their gold-seamed pantaloons and embroidered coats, was 
present at the high mass at the cathedral, where a full choir, 
consisting of something like a hundred voices, and a variety of 
musical instruments electrified us by the most splendid of church 
music. The building was crowded to excess, by high and low, 
rich and poor, and the solemn and magnificent service produced 
a marked effect upon the discordant multitude there assembled. 
The general knelt by the side of the blanketed lepero ; and in the 
presence of their common father, all distinctions seemed for the 
moment forgotten — as well the distinction of race and religion, as 
that of victor and vanquished. Indeed, so exemplary was our de- 
portment in the churches, that the newspapers in the capital were 
already beginning to abuse us for it ! They feared lest our adroit 
hvpocrisv, as they characterized this deportment, should draw 
over to us a portion of the unwary multitude. " Beware, Mexi- 
cans I" they said, " These Yankees, when in Jalapa, where there 
were plenty of pretty women, and where gallantry was the order 
of the day, were obsequious and attentive beaux, but now that 



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GSNERAl SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



they hare arrived in Puebla of the Angels % where religion is in 

vogue, they have suddenly become saints!'' 1 

After the mass was concluded, the host was carried in proces- 
sion around the interior of the building, — those of the spectators 
who chose, following with lighted candles in their hands, politely 
supplied by the churchmen in attendance. The gallant colonel 
of dragoons, whose name and fame had preceded him from the 
heights of Cerro Gordo, and who is a Catholic, the accomplished 
surgeon-general, who, on the battle-field, seemed to have de- 
cidedly more taste for the sabre than the scalpel, skillful as he was 
in the use of this, and a number of other officers, high in rank, 
followed in the procession. A solemn chant of the choir con- 
tinued during the imposing ceremony, and what with the burning 
incense of a dozen censers ascending high above the heads of the 
multitude, curling around pillar and capital, and rolling in mimic 
clouds alons: the vaulted dome — the glare of a thousand waxen 
candles — the gray hairs of the venerable old priests, and the sea 
of heads of human beings, the scene was one not often witnessed, 
and being witnessed, to be remembered. 

There are something like a hundred churches, large and small, 
in and about Puebla. Not only does a tall spire appear to rise in 
almost every square in the city, but each little eminence in the 
surrounding plain is crowned with its picturesque Gothic temple — 
frequently embowered in the most lovely of forest trees. One of 
the peculiarities which strikes an American with much force, in 
walking the streets of Puebla. is the great number of ecclesiastics 
in proportion to the population : all dressed in the costumes of 
centuries gone by, and with their broad-brim hats rolled up at 
the sides, and their flowing cassocks — white, brown, or black, ac- 
cording to their respective orders — presenting a most outre, and 
even ludicrous appearance. Indeed, the Mexican clergy, like the 
Spanish, seem determined, by adhering to their street processions 
and their antiquated garments, to render religion as little attrac- 
tive as possible; and to preserve that imperium la imperio, in 
worldly things, which has long since passed from them. With 
better taste and more judgment, they should follow the example 
of their worthy brethren of the same denomination in the United 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



153 



States, and adapt their dress to modern ideas — for their dress is 
no part of their religion — and perform the rites of worship within 
their churches, where they would not come in contact with the 
vulgar traffic of the streets, nor be degraded by ostentatious dis- 
play. There are beside the secular clergy, great numbers of 
monks, and nuns. Of the latter, there are eleven institutions in 
the city alone — some of them of such rigid orders, that their in- 
mates are not permitted to be seen by their nearest relatives, 
when thev have once shut themselves up in these living tombs. 
The Capuchins are of this order ; and in one of the families we 
visited, the young ladies told us they had a sister belonging to 
this order, who had been two years a nun, and whom, although 
thev had conversed with her behind a screen, they had not seen 
in all this time ; nor did they ever expect to see her again ! It 
must require a heroic resolution, indeed, on the part of a young- 
woman, thus to shut herself out forever from all intercourse with 
her family. There is, of course, no compulsion practiced in these 
matters, under the republican institutions of Mexico ; the laws, at 
all times, unlocking the convent gates to such as wish to return 
to the world. But the monasteries of Mexico, as well male as 
female, are fast becoming depopulated, and probably, ere long, as 
they are deprived, from time to time, of their property by the 
state, their inmates will be reduced in numbers to the standard re- 
quired by the present wants of society — that is to say, to the numbers 
demanded by the several literary institutions, as instructors of 
youth. To this extent, there could be no possible objection to 
them, as the recluses would no longer be drones, or consumers, 
without being producers, but would be actively and beneficially em- 
ployed in the affairs of life. And if, while thus employed, and 
under proper protection from the laws, they choose, for the sake of 
religion, to withdraw themselves from the vanities and temptations 
of the world, who can object ? State policy no longer having 
anything to do with it, it would be as intolerant as unwise and 
unjust, to throw obstacles in their way. 

The most agreeable resorts in Puebla are the paseos. In the 
western extremity of the city, there is one of these public walks 
which covers twenty acres of ground ! It has five splendid foun- 
tains — there being stone benches constructed around each, for the 



154 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



convenience of visitors — and is filled with fine forest and shad 
trees, beneath which one may wander until he is tired, with a 
continually changing prospect. A profusion of shrubs and flowers 
adorn the avenues and side-walks, and many plots of well kept 
green-sward, afford play -grounds for the children and their 
nurses. It was our practice, during our "occupation," to station 
bands of music here — and at the Tivoli also, at the other end of 
the city — twice a week, when the beau monde all turned out to 
ride and promenade in this delightful paseo. 

The Tivoli, on the other hand, though not less thronged, was 
not so fashionable. Hither, that class of girls known in France 
by the term grisette. resorted with their beaux to drink sherbets 
and eat ices, and dance in a sala de bayle, and sometimes in the 
open air, on the green-sward. Every person was admitted, 
without question, upon paying a real, and although the gardens 
were frequently crowded, the utmost propriety prevailed. I never 
saw an intoxicated man at these festivals of the common people, 
nor witnessed improper behavior on the part of the women ! 
The Mexican woman, unlike the English or American woman, 
however degraded she may be, by vice, never betrays her degra- 
dation in public. Another remarkable difference of manner exists. 
The better classes of Mexican women, or those occupying the 
position of ladies, frequently resort to places of this kind, to look 
on, from their carriage windows, and enjoy the sports of the 
humbler classes. 

The population of Puebla differs but little from that of the rest 
of Mexico, being mostly Indian. The proportion of white per- 
sons struck me as being less here than at Jalapa ; it being about 
one to thirty. Many of the better classes had emigrated previous 
to our entering the city, and but few of the fugitives returned 
during our stay. The population being an inland one, which had 
had but little intercourse with foreigners, naturally became alarm- 
ed at the exaggerated reports of murder, rape, and robbery which 
had preceded us — reports of this character having been purposely 
propagated, by the Mexican press, to render us as odious as pos- 
sible to the people. Those families which did remain, kept them- 
selves closely shut up for the first few days, apparently expecting 
us to sack their houses and violate their women. By degrees. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



155 



however, as neither of these things occurred, first one member of 
the family and then another, would come to the window, to take 
a peep at some passing barbarian. Daily growing bolder, they, 
at length, unbarred and unfastened their doors and windows, and 
came forth into the streets — the women even gaining courage to 
decorate themselves in their evening costumes, and to look, with 
eyes of evident admiration, upon the comely and manly forms of 
our younger officers, whom they could not but contrast, favorably, 
with their more puny husbands and beaux. A communicative 
old lady, whom I met one evening, with her pretty daughter, at a 
soiree dansante, given by a French resident, described to me, 
graphically, the consternation and alarm of the fair poblanas, 
when they heard of the approach of General Worth. " The 
whole world was packing up, and scampering off in great haste/' 
said she, " to get out of the way of the terrible Americanos del 
Norte, and I and my daughter would have gone with the rest, 
but we had no carriage of our own, and could not hire one for 
love or money, in such demand were they, and so we were com- 
pelled to remain. For the first few days, we were terribly alarmed, 
but we soon got over it ; and now, you see, we are not afraid of 
you at all." The daughter, who, during this conversation, was 
sitting at a harp, on which she was preparing to play, and in 
whose ear a young dragoon or two was whispering broken Span- 
ish, seemed, as the mother said, to be "not at all afraid" of these 
dashing young fellows, but already began to flirt her fan at them, 
in a manner which none but a Spanish woman can do. 

One of the most agreeable families we visited here, was of 
Irish origin. The mercurial Irish seem to have mixed more with 
the sober Dons than almost any other nation ; not even excepting 
the French ; between whom and the Spaniards there is more simi- 
larity of language and manners. The O'Reillys and O'Donnels 
of the Emerald Isle have made places for themselves among the 
old nobility of Spain, and what is more to the purpose, have filled, 
during several generations, important spaces in the public eye, 
and written their names and nation indelibly in the Spanish an- 
nals. The master of the family, of which I am speaking, was 
Mexican-born, but the son of an Irishman. Neither he nor any 
member of his family spoke anything but Spanish ; but they all 



150 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



retained great affection for their fatherland, and were fond of 
claiming their relationship with the great race from which they 
were descended. The cross seemed to have worked remarks 
well, in a Malthusian sense, at least, as the lady-mother of this 
interesting family, who still retained much freshness and vigor of 
constitution, had borne her lord twenty heirs to his honors and 
estates, and was on the eve of presenting him with the twenty- 
first, when we made her acquaintance ! A patriotic example 
worthy of all praise and imitation by my country-women. 
Although of Mexican descent herself, she had thoroughly imbibed 
her husband's ideas and predilections with regard to race ; and 
did not hesitate, in conversation, to criticise her countrymen, espe- 
cially the military, with no little pungency. Indeed, I found this 
frequently the case, in Mexico. Wherever our countrymen, or 
the English had married native ladies, they had uniformly made 
them "one flesh and one blood" with themselves, in all that per- 
tained to their respective countries. I lodged at the house of an 
American gentleman, in the city of Mexico, for several weeks 
after our entry into the capital, and found his wife, who was an 
intelligent Mexican lady, and who, by-the-by, had done her lord 
equal honor, with her Irish compeer, by bearing him a numerous 
family of children, more enthusiastic, if possible, than her hus- 
band, in her admiration of our country and its institutions. As 
in duty bound, and in compliment to her lord, she, of course, 
thought one good specimen of a northern man equal to at least a 
dozen fioxos Mexicanos — weakly Mexicans ! 

Our Pueblan friend had five grown daughters; and as they 
were sprightly girls with fine complexions, and melting black eyes, 
who, beside chatting prettily, played on harp and piano, they 
soon became great favorites with us ; and their house was generally 
well filled, of an evening, with the young officers of the different 
regiments, speaking, or trying to speak, according to the progress 
they had severally made, the Castilian. The lady-mother took 
the less advanced pupils under her especial charge, and amusingly 
and wittily gave them oral instruction, in the pronunciation and 
syntax of her language, in exchange for a few words of English, 
whenever she could withdraw them, for a moment or so, from the 
sides of her lovely daughters ; whom the young men, by the way, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



157 



seemed to think better preceptresses than their mother. Perhaps 
when the words became somewhat difficult, the eyes, in the latter 
case, came to the rescue, and assisted in the explanation of them, 
as the eyes of young people of different sexes will sometimes do. 
In short, we found this a most worthy and kind-hearted family, 
and we were indebted to it for many pleasant evenings, while we 
remained in Puebla, and for many pleasant reminiscences after- 
ward. We often recalled it kindly to each other when we were 
bivouacked on the open plain, after a dreary march, and drank to 
its health and prosperity from our canteens, while we chatted 
carelessly around our camp-fires ; wishing the lady-mother to 
bear, at least, a dozen more such daughters, and the daughters 
to eret good husbands. Thev found it politic to leave Puebla be- 
fore we did, in consequence of some illiberal remarks that had 
been made concerning them, by their countrymen, who called 
them Americans, in derision, and behaved otherwise ungallantly 
toward them. I called on them, a day or two before they retired 
to their hacienda — some seven or eight leagues distant — when one 
of the young ladies, with the utmost despondency depicted in her 
pretty face, told me, as she raised her moistened black eyes to- 
ward the ceiling, "we are going where there is nothing but cielo 
y fierraf" — the heavens and the earth — ••'but papa says it is 
better, and so we must needs comply." This family was a speci- 
men of the upper classes, among which they moved, in all that 
relates to national manners, education, and refinement. Xo 
women are more kind hearted, or more full of the amiable sensi- 
bilities of the sex, than the Mexican. Perfectly feminine in 
character, they are indeed the vine to cling around the oak, which 
nature designed the sex to be. They would be shocked at the idea 
of holding public meetings, or discussing, in open forum, the 
equal rights of women, as unsexed females sometimes do in other 
countries. Their principal defect consists in a want of education ; 
which, however, is compensated for, by so many amiable traits 
of character, that one scarcely perceives it. They are as artless 
in their manners as children, easy and graceful in their move- 
ments, and sprightly and witty in conversation. 

The great majority of the women of Puebla go barefoot ! Even 
women well-dressed, in other respects, that is to say, with good- 



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GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGB 



looking skirts or petticoats, and fancy reboso, may be seen tripping 
along, with their bare feet on the cold flag-stones, to mass. Stock- 
ings, even among the middling classes, seem to have been entirelv 
eschewed ; a female of these classes being considered well and 
decently dressed, with slippers and bare ankles. I do not exagg : - 
rate, when I say, that I did not see more than one woman in lorry 
indulge in the luxury of shoes; and the greater lux stc :k- 

inirs was so rare, that we always called each others attention to the 
appearance of a pair of white silks or cottons glittering upon the 
ankles of any aristocratic wearer, who mio-ht trip daintily by, with 
her petticoats coquettishly shortened, the better to display them. 
Xo woman of the middling or lower classes of Mexico is ever 
dressed above the waist. All the dressing is below — the chemise 
and reboso — a sort of long, thin shawl, in which the head and 
shoulders are enveloped — being sufficient to set off the upper 
woman. Indeed, I have more than once paid a visit to ladies of 
the haut ton, who have come in to receive me, apparently just 
risen from the siesta, with their dresses entirely loose, and open 
behind ; so much so, as to make a man feel somewhat nervous in 
their presence. With the utmost nonchalance, they would put one 
hand behind them, and gather them together when they thought 
them a little too open, or endeavor to cover so much of their under- 
garments as were visible, with the folds of their shawls. But 
"konisoit qui mal y peme" — they thought nothing of it. them- 
selves. 

It is quite a common practice for Mexican ladies to ride 
a-straddle on horseback. Although tiiis struck me as very 
odd, at first, I soon became accustomed to the sight. Educa- 
tion sfives us many queer notions, and among others, the 
notion that it is proper to jeopard the lives of our women when- 
ever we put them on horseback, merely for the sake of making 
them ride dirTerently from the men, I wimessed this m<: de of 
horsewomanship for the first time, on the fashionable paseo, the 
young ladv being surrounded by three or four of her beaux, and 
chatting and laughing with them as unconcernedly as if both :: 
her nether limbs had been on the same side of her saddle! 
Indeed, her appearance was in ail respects perfectly modes:. She 
was dressed in a long riding-habit that, parting at the hips, fell 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



159 



down gracefully on either side of the saddle and entirely concealed 
her lower person from view ; so that the only indecency existed 
entirely in the imagination of the beholder, and not in anything 
he saw. Smoking is one of the accomplishments of the Mexican 
women, high and low ; but this is not a Mexican peculiarity, 
since it is found among many of the European nations. The young 
ladies smoke a delicate little paper cigar, which they hold with a 
grace between their thumb and fore-finger, while the older ones 
sometimes indulge in a real puro, al caballero. It looks a little 
odd to an American, at first, to see an elegant young lady puffing 
away hurriedly to finish her cigar, before she complies with his 
request to favor him with a tune on the harp or guitar ; or turning 
her head to one side, in the waltz, to avoid puffing the smoke in 
his face ; and then the poetry that hangs round the sex is in a 
great measure destroyed, by her asking him for the spit-box ! As 
for the old women, it is not of so much consequence, since there 
is no poetry about them, and least of all about a Mexican old 
woman, whose skin is about the color of parchment, and to all 
appearance, as tough. Among the upper classes of Mexican 
females, I am inclined to think there is less virtue than with us. 
Among the lower classes, with rare exceptions, there is none. 
Women of all classes are very prolific, and begin to bear children 
at a very early age. I have frequently been pained to see a girl 
of thirteen or fourteen, lugging her own child through the streets, 
and exhibiting all the signs of prematurely developed woman- 
hood. These poor creatures, being thus early reduced to a life 
of toil and hardship, are in an infinitely worse condition than the 
female slaves on our southern plantations, who have masters to 
feed and take care of their infants. 

The gentlemen rival, if they do not excel the French, in polite- 
ness. Indeed, I have sometimes been tempted to smile at its 
ludicrous excess. In departing from a Mexican house, you never 
know when you have made your last bow ; and one must be ex- 
ceedingly watchful to avoid giving offense by too abrupt an exit. 
You are expected to bow and say something civil at departing — 
you turn round, and bow again at the drawing-room door. The 
master of the house follows you into the sala, or hall. You bow 
to him upon descending the stairs — and turn round as you reach 



160 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



each landing, and bow again. When you have reached the foot 
of the stairs, you make your final bow, and are at liberty to pass 
into the street. All this time, the master of the house stands bow- 
ing and scraping to you from the topmost step. 

Education, among the males of the upper classes, is quite com- 
mon, but it is not sufficiently practical to be adapted to the wants 
and requirements of the age in which they live. Their educa- 
tional institutions being entirely under the control of religious 
men, who are mere classical scholars, living amid the wrecks of a 
by-gone literature, as a matter of course, too much stress is laid 
on this literature, to the neglect of the sciences. The Mexican 
youth studies polemics, more than he does his geography and 
algebra ; and the consequence is, that while he is shrewd and 
quick at disputation, especially at that kind of disputation which 
is " vox et preterea nihil " he is deficient in preparation for the 
business of life. 

There can be no question that the great majority of public men in 
Mexico, are eminently corrupt — and their corruption proceeds very 
naturally from the unfortunate training they undergo in that most 
corrupting of all schools — the school of politics and demagogueism. 
Those who have inherited or amassed sufficient fortune to place 
themselves above the temptations of office, for the sake of the 
emoluments and plunder it affords, have retained thek hon- 
esty : a state of things fraught with many useful reflections 
for us Americans. Poverty is undoubtedly a crime in a public 
man, on the principle, " command my bread, command me and 
no poor devil, who has not brains enough to earn his living out of 
office, should ever be permitted to disturb the pub 1 ^ peace by 
entering one. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Description of Puebla continued — The lower classes — The leperos, and the 
ladrones, or robbers — Mexican justice — Mexican houses all closed at eight 
o'clock at night — The spy company organized by General Scott, and its 
notorious captain — Dominguez — General "Worth's able and politic govern- 
ment of the city, and the good results arising therefrom — St. John's day — 
The army grows tired of inactivity — The drill-grounds, and the splendid 
divisions of Worth and Twiggs — Sketches of the personal appearance, 
etc., of the principal officers — Captain Kearney sent forward under a flag 
of truce; author accompanies him — Excursion to the Rio Frio, and return. 

Puebla has a bad reputation for its lower orders. There are 
said to be as many desperate villains congregated here, as in any- 
other city of the union, save perhaps the capital ; and the scowling, 
unwashed, uncombed appearance of the " blanketed " gentry cer- 
tainly seems to justify the remark. General W orth, upon taking- 
possession, found several hundred prisoners in the city prisons, 
although many others had been liberated by their countrymen. 
Some of these wretches, who had neither money, nor personal, nor 
political influence, wherewith to bribe their judges, had been lying- 
in confinement three and four years ; w r hile many of the most des- 
perate highwaymen, captured from time to time, had been per- 
mitted to escape, after a nominal imprisonment. Bribery and cor- 
ruption among the judges are so common, as to be a subject of 
daily comment among the Mexicans themselves ; and one fre- 
quently hears the better order of citizens lament that it is impos- 
sible to procure the conviction of a criminal, however notorious his 
crimes, provided he have money. The consequence is that which 
we daily witness, the infestment of the highways by robbers. In- 
deed, not long since, a lieutenant-colonel in the Mexican army was 
executed for participation in a barbarous murder and robbery ; 
and facts were developed on his trial, showing him to have been 
long connected with an organized band of ladrones. Members of 
congress, journeying toward the capital from the more distant 
14 (161) 



162 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



parts of the republic, have frequently to avail themselves of mili- 
tary escorts, to enable them to reach their destination. In Pue- 
bla, I had often pointed out to me, notorious highwaymen, who 
passed boldly through the streets, un whipped of justice ; and every 
morning or two, reports would come in to us, of robberies com- 
mitted beyond the range of our sentinels. The villains, with more 
or less of the sentiment of religion about them — one frequently 
sees them at their prayers — are guilty even of robbing the 
churches ! 

Beside these more daring and dangerous exploits, the "blanket- 
ed " of Puebla possess great sleight-of-hand at petty larceny ; and 
one of the first cautions given you by your hotel keeper, is not to 
leave anything exposed. I was amused at an instance of this 
adroitness, which occurred soon after our arrival, in front of the 
"Reboso" As a servant was unloading our baggage-wagon, he 
carelessly dropped on the pavement a pistol case, belonging to one 
of my messmates. The case flew open, and the pistols, balls, 
etc., were scattered around. While the servant was gathering up 
the balls, etc., leaving, in his wisdom, the larger articles to be 
attended to, more at leisure, one of the "blanketed " — two or 
three others being in company — picked up a pistol, with the 
sleight-of-hand of an Indian juggler, and walked off with it before 
the eye of both master and man ! To this accomplishment, these 
chevaliers d* Industrie add that of an adroit and skillful use of the 
cuchillo — knife. Civilization has taught them this — the other pro- 
pensity is a part of their Indian nature. The blanket affords 
them great facility for the concealment and use of this weapon. 
Even the boys carry their knives, and begin to use them at a very 
early age. I saw two youngsters, on one occasion — the eldest not 
being more than seven years — quarreling in the street over a game 
of monte — one of their little blankets being spread on the pave- 
ment for the convenience of dealing their cards — when the smaller 
boy, in the twinkling of an eye, whipped out his knife, and made 
a pass at the other, which must have killed him, had it not been 
dextrously avoided. His excitement being over in a moment, he 
very deliberately put up his knife, and the two went to playing 
monte again ! So it is with the men ; they do not have a "bit of 
a row," a knock-down, and a black eye, and then make up, and 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



163 



take a drink together in the neighboring coffee-house, as would 
be the case with us, in New York or Boston, among a similar class 
of men ; but they either resort to their knives, in hot blood, or 
what is more common, watch their opportunity with true Indian 
patience, and when they can do so without personal risk, stiletto 
their enemy with as little compunction as — they would rob a 
church ! 

I was struck, upon my arrival, with the quiet which reigned 
everywhere in the streets soon after night-fall, and attributed it, 
at first, to our "occupation;" upon inquiry, however, I found 
that it was customary at all times, and in all other cities of the 
republic. As early as eight, or at most, nine o'clock, the streets 
are entirely deserted, and the doors and windows of all the houses 
closed and jealously barred; as if a general fear and distrust pre- 
vailed. If you make a visit after this hour of the night, before 
you are admitted, it is demanded of you to say who you are, and 
you are closely scrutinized by the aid of a lamp, through the reja 
— a small, square grating fixed in every street door. 

The blanketed gentry of whom I have been speaking, were dispos- 
ed, for the first few days after our entry, to be somewhat surly, and 
to dispute the side-walks with us; but a rap or two over the head, 
with the flat of the sabre, or a well-directed blow from a doubled 
fist, soon brought them to their senses, and they were always in 
a hurry, afterward, to get out of our way. We kept a wary eye 
on them, however, and never went out at night without our sabres; 
and if alone, we avoided doubling too closely the street corners. 
General Scott organized, while we remained here, a spy company 
of these vagabonds, headed by a notorious robber named Domin- 
guez, which brought more discredit on our arms by its pilfering 
and bad behavior, than was compensated for by any service it 
performed. 

We occupied Puebla three months, previous to our march upon 
Mexico : and the city during this time, was probably better policed 
than it had ever been before. General Worth, in the two weeks 
he had occupied it previous to our arrival, had quieted the fears 
of the population, and so harmonized his rule with that of the 
municipality, which he had retained in power, as to give general 
satisfaction. He encountered some opposition at first; but by the 



164 



GENERAL SCOTT'sC AMPAIGN 



exercise of proper firmness, tempered with kindness and courtesy, 
he soon conciliated all minds, and overcame all difficulties. The 
municipal officers, whom he had been obliged, during the first few 
days of his government, to imprison in a body for contumely, 
afterward resumed the exercise of their functions, and continued 
in it, during the remainder of our stay. General Scott was 
equally successful in continuing this state of things, after his arri- 
val. It is true, the prefect ran off, after having written him an 
insolent letter, but another was appointed in his stead, without dis- 
turbing the harmony of the city government, and no further diffi- 
culties occurred. This mixed system of policy, of making the 
Mexicans govern themselves, sub modo, was admirably adapted to 
accomplish our purposes, which were to conciliate the people, at 
the same time that we retained sufficient control over affairs, to 
ensure the safety of the army, and further the objects of the cam- 
paign. It relieved the commanding general, too, of a vast amount 
of labor. Our troops, beside occupying commanding points with- 
out the city, were judiciously distributed in different parts of it, 
the better to watch over and to protect it, as well from external 
assaults, as from riot, or disorder within. In addition to this, the 
native watchmen were permitted to retain their arms, and officiate 
in their several wards as usual ; and at night, their shrill, "Ave 
Maria! son las doce de la noche, y sereno," was not unmusically 
mixed with the more sonorous " all's well !" of the American sen- 
tinel. Few cities occupied by a belligerent army for the space of 
three months, can present a list of so few casualties, as occurred 
at Puebla. We lost but two men killed during the whole time, 
although we had eight thousand troops distributed among a native 
population of sixty thousand ! One of these was a teamster, and 
the other a New York volunteer. The usual occupations of trade 
and industry went forward; abundant supplies came in to us from 
all quarters ; and the city was, I have no doubt, really more pros- 
perous under our rule, than it had been for many years before. 
The entire foreign population, and many of the natives testified to 
this fact, and the permanent dominion of the United States might, 
no doubt, have been established over the ancient city of the "An- 
gels," without the slightest opposition — so glaring was the con- 
trast between a revolutionary government, which rendered life 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



165 



insecure, and unsettled the land-marks of property, and the rule 
of the Anglo-Saxon, whose military officers even, are taught to 
carry with them, wherever they go, the ideas and guarantees of 
liberty and security. 

June 23d. This is St. John's day. All the town is agog, as is 
usual on feast days. The church bells are chiming forth their 
merry peals, and the streets are thronged with the population of 
city and country, in their gala dresses, all going to, or returning 
from, mass. St. John's church, gaily decorated with flowers, is 
the principal point of attraction ; and thither wend wife and maid 
to offer up their prayers to the patron saint, for husbands and 
sweethearts. An unusual display of clean white stockings, and 
new slippers, has taken place, and we fancy that the population — 
the female population, I mean ; we never look at the males — looks 
sweeter and fresher to-day, than usual, as this is the great festival 
on which all Mexico washes itself! Everybody turns out at four 
o'clock in the morning, for this purpose, and there is a constant 
stream of humanity passing into and out of the public bathing 
establishments, from this hour until twelve or one o'clock, when it 
is supposed everybody in the city is washed. The bath-tubs are 
engarlanded with roses, and the couches bestrewn with fruits and 
flowers ; and the younger revelers, who bathe in groups, and who 
make the morning merry w^ith their laughter, pay quite as much 
honor to Flora and Pomona, as to St. John. Our lady acquaint- 
ances told us to look out for heavy rains to-day, as St. John never 
fails to usher in his own festival with the most copious showers. 
But St. John rained less than usual, and we had a bright after- 
noon in which to enjoy our usual promenade a ckeval, on the Paseo, 
and to witness the general turn-out of the population. There is 
great virtue in soap and water, and it is a pity we have not two 
or three annual feasts of St. John in our own larger cities, for the 
benefit of our unwashed sovereigns, and their respective little 
princes and princesses. 

We are growing somewhat tired of our inactivity. Puebla be- 
gins to lose the charm of novelty, and we are anxious to be mo- 
ving toward the " Halls of the Montezumas ;" that terminus of the 
campaign, which each one has pictured to his imagination in such 
glowing colors, and which is to repay us for so much tedious 



166 



GENERAL SCOTT* 8 CAMPAIGN 



delay, and for so much toil and hardship ; the said toil and hard- 
ship, so far as the officers are concerned, who are mostly mounted, 
and have baggage-wagons ad lib., to carry their wardrobes and 
comfortable bedding, consisting in performing a very interesting- 
tour, in a very unique and interesting country ! We had hoped 
to hold our " revel " in the Halls, on the coming fourth of July ; 
but that hope we have now abandoned, as it will be impossible for 
our reinforcements to be up in time. 

But as we cannot be marching, we are doing the next best thing, 
drilling, and preparing our troops for the march. The city of 
Mexico, which once invited us with open gates to enter it, is now 
being converted into a citadel, by the indefatigable Santa Anna, 
and we shall have to fight one or more battles to capture it. We 
have two beautiful drill grounds in the vicinity of Puebla, and they 
are as classic as they are beautiful — one of them being situated 
on the road to Tlascala, and the other in full view of Cholula. — 
The snow mountains look down upon them both, and they are 
covered with the most velvety green-sward. There is a regiment 
constantly on drill in one or the other of these plains ; and once or 
twice a week, there is a division review, at which the general-in- 
cliief is sometimes present. When General Worth or Twiggs 
drills his division, half the town flocks out to witness the splendid 
spectacle. The veterans of these divisions (the 1st and 2d of 
regulars) which have hitherto borne the brunt of the war, and are 
expected to bear it again, perform their various evolutions, with 
the ease and accuracy, of so much machinery, under the guidance 
of their skillful officers ; and nothing can exceed the gorgeous 
coup d'ceil presented by a review of one of these famous corps. 
The magnificent plain, with its storied associations ; the transpa- 
rency of the brilliant atmosphere, unknown to, and almost incon- 
ceivable by, a dweller in low-lands ; the solid phalanx as it is 
moved hither and thither at will ; the glitter of bayonets, the flut- 
ter of pennons, and the soul-stirring music of the bands, all form a 
picture which the imagination may conceive, but which the pen, 
or at least, my pen, refuses to commit to paper. 

I always connected these military displays — fancifully, no doubt 
— with the history of Cortez and his exploits. But our situation 
was somewhat similar. With a handful of men, we had, like him, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



167 



boldly thrown ourselves into the interior of the country. We had 
not burned our ships, but we had suffered our retreat to be cut 
off, in case of disaster ; and we were now preparing to march 
against the same city of Mexico, w^hich he had conquered, and 
from nearly the same place ; as he had marched on his great ex- 
pedition, first from Tlascala, and then from Cholula. Science and 
skill, and the nature of weapons considered, our great predecessor, 
as compared with his enemy, had had greatly the advantage of 
us ; for his invading force, Tlascalans and other Indian allies in- 
cluded, amounted, at times, to from twenty to forty thousand men ; 
his allies being at least equal, if not superior, as soldiers, to the 
enemy. We expected to move with ten thousand, all told ! If 
beaten, he could fall back upon Tlascala, which sturdy little re- 
public had become his faithful friend and confederate in the war ; 
but if we should be beaten, our total destruction would be inev- 
itable. 

While the troops were being thus drilled, General Scott was 
diligently organizing and arranging affairs for a forward movement. 
The commissaries and quarter-masters — among whom were my 
talented and energetic messmates, Irwin and Wayne — were 
gathering together all the necessary supplies of animals and pro- 
visions, and the accomplished corps of engineers — topographical 
and regular — with the indefatigable Major Turnbull and Captain 
Lee at their head — Major Smith, the superior of the latter being 
an invalid — were collecting from every reliable source, military 
and topographical information for the government of the cam- 
paign. Through the great abilities of our friend Hargous, aided 
by his extensive commercial connection, in the capital, and else- 
where, the financial operations of the army were conducted with- 
out loss to the country, or inconvenience to officers or soldiers. 
The drafts of the government were always cashed at par, and 
sometimes even at a premium, and the military chest was always 
abundantly supplied. Thus we had money and provisions in 
abundance, and wanted only men ; and we had intelligence that 
these were being rapidly raised and equipped, and sent forward 
with all dispatch. Mr. Marcy certainly showed himself an able 
and active secretary of war, and considering the difficulties he 
had to encounter, arising from the want of a precedent organi- 



168 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



zation in many of me staff corps under his control, and the ne- 
cessity of raising and equipping raw levies in different and distant 
parts of the country, and transporting them by sea to the base of 
operations, must be regarded as having been eminently success- 
ful in performing his part of the duties of the campaign. The 
people are but too prone to award all the glory of achievements 
in war, to those who right the battles, and appear more promi- 
nently upon the theater of events, without reflecting that these are 
but the creatures of the government which puts them in motion, 
and without the active support and co-operation of which they 
would be powerless. Carnot, the celebrated French minister of 
war, under the consulate and empire, fought and won many of the 
battles in his cabinet, for which his generals got the credit. — 
General Scott was thus, instead of being "fired upon from his 
rear," ably seconded by the secretary of war; and he, as ably, 
carried out his portion of the campaign, as we shall see. 

While these proceedings were going forward, the general held 
nightly levees at the state palace, where he had established his 
head-quarters. These reunions were partly social and partly offi- 
cial — the various commanders of divisions and chiefs of staff 
corps repairing to them to " report progress," and take further 
orders, and when their business was finished, joining with other 
visitors in " spending the evening." Prominent among the topics 
of conversation was, of course, our contemplated movement upon 
Mexico ; and many interesting discussions arose as to the enemy's 
position and strength, and the best mode of march and attack. I 
was always an interested listener on these occasions, and am happy 
to bear my testimony to the universal respect, and sometimes 
affection with which the commander-in-chief was regarded. His 
superior military talents were acknowledged by all, and his large 
and comprehensive views of things in general, were frequently 
subjects for comment and admiration. Barring a little egotism, 
which perhaps was pardonable enough under the circumstances, 
and a disposition to assume and hold the parole a little too exclu- 
sively, which was made amends for by the interesting style of 
his conversation, General Scott could be as agreeable and fascina- 
ting a social companion, as he was a distinguished military leader. 
It was pleasant to see such men as Worth and Twiggs, Harney, 



m THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 169 

Riley, Smith and Quitman, listening to him with an attentive ear, 
and paving him not only the official respect due their chief, but 
the more endearing tribute of personal regard. 

To a clear head, General Scott adds a remarkable memory; and 
I have frequently been amused to hear him quote line and page 
of his classics — which, upon being questioned, he would aver not 
to have looked into since he left school — to set right some younger 
member of his audience, fresh from Alma Mater. He is exceed- 
inglv rich in personal anecdote ; and I, in common with others, 
have sat a whole evening, without saying a word, except now and 
then to ask for an explanation, listening enchanted to his reminis- 
cences of men and things. 

He is acquainted with most of the distinguished men of our 
countrv, and draws their portraits with a life-like accuracy — 
making due allowance for political prejudices — that gives you a 
better idea of them, than would a hundred ordinary biographies : 
in addition to this, he traveled over Europe in the most interest- 
ing period of its history — toward the commencement of the pre- 
sent century — and met, and retains vivid recollections of, many of 
the heroes and statesmen of that period, who have long since 
given their bodies to the worms and their names to fame. With 
some petulance and irascibility of temperament, he is possessed 
of an excellent heart, and always attaches to himself those by 
whom he is surrounded. He has no concealments, but speaks 
right out, and would as lief criticise the acts of the president of 
the United States, or the secretary of war, as those of any subal- 
tern in his army. He is about six feet four inches in height, and 
proportioned accordingly; so that he is physically, as well as offi- 
cially, the greatest man in his army ! He is in the sixty-second 
year of his age (now, in 1847); is imposing in personal appear- 
ance, especially when dressed in full military costume; has rather 
a stern expression of countenance, and is deprived, partially, of 
the use of his right arm, by a wound received in early life, at the 
battle of Chippewa. There now ! reader, I have given you a 
portrait of General Scott, such as he appeared to me at Puebla, 
and which I hope the general, should it meet his eye, will excuse. 
Should I be compelled to criticise portions of his conduct, hereaf- 
ter, the reader must recollect that I am writing my impressions 
15 



170 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



of men and things as I saw them, and not, perhaps, as he 01 I 
could have wished them. 

While we are sitting around the general's hospitable board (the 
discussions and conversations I have been sketching, took place 
around an oblong table, on which the general and his staff supped, 
and where there were always sundry bottles and drinking-cups, 
intermixed with dishes of salad, of which the general was extreme- 
ly fond), let us look round upon two or three of the distinguished 
guests. There, on the general's right, sits General Worth, the most 
able of his generals, as he is the most distingue in appearance. His 
bronzed, weather-beaten features, and brilliant black eye, remind you 
of some of the portraits of Napoleon's marshals. You see your 
beau ideal of the warrior personified in him. In quickness of ap- 
prehension (indicated by his eagle glance), in coolness and the 
power of combination, and in ready resource in remedying disasters, 
or seizing upon favorable moments on the field of battle, he is ac- 
knowledged, on all hands, to have no superior. Even his personal 
enemies — and like other great men, he has some of these — are 
forced to award to him this merit. In his moments of relaxation, 
and especially at his own table, where, being a social man, he 
maintains a style approaching to luxury, he charms every one by 
the vivacity of his conversation, and the easy and courtly grace 
of his manners. He is not only a soldier, but a man of fine belles 
lettres acquirements, and of general reading. Like General Scott, 
he is somewhat irascible in mood, but never fails, when he has 
wounded the feelings of a friend or subordinate, by a hasty word, 
to make, like a true gentleman, the amende honorable. 

"His eye-brow dark and eye of fire 
Showed spirit proud and prompt to ire; 
Yet lines of thought upon his cheek 
Did deep design and counsel speak. " 

He has the peculiarity of identifying himself, so thoroughly, on 
the field of battle, with the operations which he is directing, as 
to lose all sense or appreciation whatever of personal danger. — 
His aids-de-camp have had frequently to insist upon his taking 
shelter, on occasions when exposure was entirely unnecessary. 
At the battle of Monterey, he was the leading spirit in the galaxy 
of heroes there assembled, and displayed all the qualities of a 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



171 



great general. General Worth is about fifty-five years of age, 
and looks younger. In allusion to the elegant manner in which 
he sat his horse, the citizens of Mexico, after we entered the capi- 
tal, gave him the nomine de guerre, of the " Murat of the Ameri- 
can army." His friends, of whom he has a large number, while 
they admire the officer, love the man. 

Next to General Worth, comes General Twiggs, who has been 
in all the principal battles, except that of Buena Vista, from Palo 
Alto to Cerro Gordo ; in the latter of which, he not only planned 
the attack, as has been stated, before the arrival of General Scott 
on the ground, but with his division turned the enemy's position, 
and stormed the principal height ; he is therefore entitled to be 
known as the hero of Cerro Gordo. The general is about sixty 
vears of age, six feet in height, stout and well proportioned, and 
has a frank and open countenance that at once bespeaks his cha- 
racter as a blunt and fearless soldier. 

General Quitman resembles General Worth somewhat, in per- 
sonal appearance. He w^as bred a lawyer, and has held many dis- 
tinguished civil posts in his adopted state — Mississippi. He bore 
an important part in the operations before Monterey, and is 
esteemed by all, as a chivalrous and gallant soldier. Although he 
was introduced into the army after the breaking out of the war, 
as a brigadier-general, without having gone through any of the 
subordinate grades, he has had the rare tact to conciliate the regu- 
lar officers, over whose heads he was appointed, and to become 
even popular with them. He is a zealous amateur soldier, and 
seems to regard his new profession with an enthusiasm, akin to 
that with which the lover regards his mistress. He is about Gene- 
ral Worth's age. 

General Pillow, I have described in another place. 
Colonel Persifer F. Smith, of the Rifles, is, like General Quit- 
man, an amateur soldier ; the rifle regiment, of which he is the 
colonel, having been organized within a year past. He is not new 
to the profession of arms, however, having seen much service in 
the Florida war, where he was associated with General Taylor. — 
It was at the instance of this latter officer, that he was appointed 
to the distinguished post he now holds. He bore an honorable 
part in the battle of Monterey. He is a well-read and accom- 



172 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



plished gentleman, and a man of sound judgment. Like General 
Quitman, he lias conciliated the officers of the " old army," and 
is already regarded by them as "one of us." In short, without 
carrying our sketches farther, we feel that with such a chief, 
and such subordinates, victory cannot but perch upon our 
standard. 

July 4th. This morning our colors were displayed from the 
flag-staff of the government house, and a general interchange 
of courtesies took place among the officers of the various corps. 
It being Sunday, the salute which is usually fired on this anni- 
versary, was deferred until the next day. In the evening a mas- 
querade ball was given and largely attended by the younger 
officers. The generals held levees, and were called upon and 
congratulated by their friends. 

July 11th. General Scott has at length made a movement in 
behalf of our unfortunate prisoners. He has written a dispatch 
to the Mexican president, proposing the exchange of majors 
Gaines and Borland, and Captain Cassius M. Clay, and their 
associates, who, as the reader knows, were captured in February 
last, at JEncarnacion, near Buena Vista ; he includes also, Passed- 
Midshipman Rogers, in his proposals. Captain Kearney, in com- 
mand of two companies of dragoons, is to be sent forward with 
the dispatch, under a flag of truce, and I have obtained permis- 
sion to accompany him, with my staff, to-wit, my man Seymour. 
Although I have now, for the first time, an opportunity offered 
me of taking forward my own dispatches, I have resolved not to 
present them, until I hear the result of General Scott's proposal, 
with regard to Mr. Rogers. 

We were in the saddle, and at the appointed place of rendez- 
vous, by seven o'clock the next morning, and substituting a white 
flag for one of the company guidons, in token of our errand of 
peace, we filed into the Mexican road, and commenced our march. 
We were in high spirits at the prospect of being permitted to 
enter the great city w T hich was the object of all our thoughts, or 
at least, of obtaining a view of the glorious valley, in which it was 
so jealously inclosed and guarded, by the frowning ranges of the 
Cordilleras which we were about to traverse. The morning was 
bright and beautiful, as are all the mornings, in this climate of the 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



173 



gods, even during the rainy season, which had now set in ; and 
the roads being tolerably good, we rode forward quite rapidly. 
About a mile from the Garita, we crossed a small stream (spanned 
by a neat and substantial stone bridge) whose turbid waters, 
swollen by the daily rains, were hurrying forward to the great 
Pacific. This was the first stream we had crossed since leaving 
Vera Cruz, that emptied into the western ocean, whither our em- 
pire was so rapidly tending; and many were the reflections to 
which it gave rise. Our small navy on that side of the continent, 
under the lead of the gallant Commodore Stockton, aided by Colo- 
nel Fremont, had already added the Californias to our vast domain, 
and our flag would, no doubt, soon encircle the globe as that of 
the greatest commercial nation of the earth — that same flag which 
had been derided scarce forty years before — in the war of 1812 — 
by our proud ancestor over the water, as a " bit of striped bunt- 
ing !" The fretful little river had other associations, too, of a 
widely different character. It was near the stone bridge, we were 
now crossing, that the renowned Cortez halted for the night, on his 
march from Tlascala to Cholula, in 1519 ; a century before the 
pioneers of the race which was now overrunning the country, had 
landed at Jamestown and Plymouth ! 

For some miles after leaving this small tributary, the country 
on either hand presented a barren and cheerless aspect — the lands 
wore the appearance of having been exhausted by excessive cul- 
tivation, and " turned out as old fields," to use an expressive 
phrase of our middle states. They had been furrowed into deep 
gulleys and ravines by the rains, and were dotted, here and there, 
by the adobe hut, and maguey inclosure of the herdsman. But 
if the near prospect was cheerless, we had only to raise our eyes 
to the magnificent ranges of mountains that encompassed us on 
every hand, to behold one of those sublime landscapes, which, as 
I have before remarked, break upon the astonished traveler at 
every step of his progress in this wonderful region. On our 
right, some ten or fifteen miles distant, stood the Malinche — that 
storm-gatherer of Puebla, at whose rugged peak the inhabitants 
are wont to look, at early morning, as upon a barometer, to ascer- 
tain the probable character of the weather for the day. However 
bright the sun may be shining in all the plain below, if there be 



174 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN. 



a coronet of fleecy clouds encircling the brow of the " Great 
Spirit/' it will be sure to rain before mid-day. Beyond, we caught 
occasional glimpses of the dreaded Pinal, and other detached 
mountains, while the plain of Tlascala (immortalized by so many 
associations), sweeping by the base of the Malinche, stretched 
away as far as the eye could reach, to the north-west. On our 
left, and but three or four miles distant from us, rose the pic- 
turesque pyramid of Cholula, relieved boldly against the clear blue 
sky beyond. The truncated cone of an extinct volcano stood in 
solitary grandeur in the plain, between this beautiful feature of the 
landscape and the more distant mountains ; and towering above all, 
and looking down upon the valleys both of Puebla and Mexico, were 
the chill and icy summits of Popocatapetl and Iztaccihuatl, glit- 
tering beneath the rays of the newly risen sun. The uncultivated 
and almost uninhabited tract over which we were riding, is famous 
in the legends of travelers and diligence drivers, for the numerous 
robberies it has witnessed. Our guide, who was an American, 
and who had been many years a diligence driver in Mexico, 
pointed out to us several localities, as we rode along, where his 
own coach had been stopped and robbed ; and related many 
amusing incidents of these feats of the Paul Cliffords of the 
plain. 

Some seven or eight miles from Puebla, the country begins to 
lose its barren aspect. Cultivation, scant and in patches, at first, 
gradually extends itself, until the whole plain becomes one rich 
garden spot, that would delight the eye of even a Pennsylvanian. 
Noble haciendas, with their neat chapels, and numerous adobe 
huts, for the accommodation of their servile retainers and labor- 
ers, arise in every direction. Fields of Indian-corn, wheat, barley, 
beans, and chili — a kind of sweet pepper used extensively all over 
Mexico — covering sometimes several hundred acres, each, were 
interspersed with, and agreeably relieved by meadows of rich 
grass, on which were grazing herds of mules, horses, and. beef- 
cattle, that would have done no discredit to the prairies of Illinois. 
We were no longer surprised at the abundance prevalent in our 
camp, and in the market of Puebla. Our commissaries and 
quarter-masters, with all-potent gold — more potent, unfortunately, 
in most instances, than patriotism — had tapped these rich fountains 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



175 



of supply, and we frequently met on the road, muladas — caravans 
of mules — freighted with grain and other products of this luxu- 
riant region, wending their way toward our " head-quarters. " 
The farther we advanced, the richer and more picturesque the 
country became. The whole plain, as far as the eye could reach, 
was dotted with haciendas ; the magnificent mansion-houses, and 
church-spires of which, with their grouping of huts, carried one 
back to the middle ages, and to the lordly rule of the feudal sys- 
tem. Sometimes these villages — for each estate was a village — 
were placed on gentle eminences, and embowered by large forest 
trees of luxuriant foliage. This rich picture of cultivated fields, 
green meadows filled with herds of cattle, churches and mansion- 
houses, with their white walls contrasted with the green foliage, 
as described, was set — to carry out our similie — in a massive and 
majestic frame of mountains, which encircled it on every side, 

Ten miles from Puebla, we crossed the Rio Prieto, or Black 
river, and ten miles farther on, we passed through the village of 
San Martin, containing about three thousand inhabitants. We 
looked in vain, in this village, for those evidences of elegance and 
refinement which wealth begets. There were no handsome resi- 
dences, no public-houses above the ordinary hostels, or caravan- 
series of the country, and I did not see half a dozen persons in 
the streets who appeared to occupy a position above that of a 
brigand. The mass of the people were a scowling, blanketed, 
uncouth, and unwashed multitude ; looking forth upon us, with 
the prejudices of race and caste, expressed in their countenances, 
and with scarcely a ray of intelligence to light them up, and 
relieve the stolid brutality of their features. It was here, no 
doubt, as it is in our southern states ; the better classes, or the 
gentry resided on their haciendas, while the tradesmen and me- 
chanics only, congregated in the town. The laborers of the 
haciendas, of whom we met many on the road, going to and 
returning from market, were such as I have described the class 
of predial laborers to be, in the opening chapters of this work. 
They were clothed in the coarse and scant garments of the country, 
consisting; of blue and brown serge, and wore hoods and over- 
garments made of a kind of matting which they weave from the 
leaves of the palm tree. In the bearing of burthens and other 



176 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



offices of drudgery, there was no difference apparent between the 
women and the men — a certain evidence, that they had not been 
in the least degree refined by civilization ; for although the females 
of the laboring classes are compelled to work everywhere, among 
civilized people there is a marked distinction between the kinds 
of labor undertaken by the sexes, respectively. We were fre- 
quently amused at the philosophic indifference to pain or position 
manifested by the Indian children, as they performed their jour- 
neys slung on the backs of their mothers, half smothered by a 
load of cabbages or sacate. The little elves peered at us, with 
their bright black eyes, from the mouths of the sacks in which 
they were ensconced, like so many wild animals ; and seemed to 
be equally as comfortable, whether they had a leg or an arm pro- 
truding through a hole in the sack, or were doubled up, within it, 
like a hedgehog. 

As we approached the town, generals Canalizo (formerly presi- 
dent ad interim of the republic, and whom I had seen two years 
before, as president of a cockpit, at St. Augustine, near Mexico, 
on the occasion of a great feast at that village) and Portillo, with 
about sixty lancers, who had been stationed at San Martin as a 
picket of observation upon General Scott's movements, made a 
hasty retreat, mistaking our advance, no doubt, for that of the 
vanguard of the army. A number of their countrymen had over- 
taken and passed us on the road ; and if they had stopped a 
moment to inquire, they might have learned from these, that we 
bore a white flag, and therefore must be on a mission of peace ; 
but they " saddled up" in too great a hurry. They scampered 
of! in such haste, as to leave their baggage behind them, and 
to forbid all hope of our being able to overtake them, without 
unnecessarily fatiguing our horses. We permitted them to run 
on ahead of us, therefore, not caring if they did not halt until 
they reached the gates of Mexico, as this was precisely the goal 
we were anxious to reach ourselves. We caught a glimpse of 
their retreating column at the Puenie TezmoJucan, and again at 
the Rio Frio. 

From San Martin to the Puente is eleven miles. Immediately 
after leaving the former, the road begins to ascend gradually; and 
in proportion as we ascended, the rich vegetation, which had 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



177 



accompanied us from Rio Prieto, began to disappear, and to give 
place to a less luxuriant growth of a different type ; the pine and 
mountain-oak beginning now to be seen, and a scant fern to take 
the place of the juicy grasses of the plain. The Puente Tezmolu- 
can is a magnificent stone bridge, erected by the Spaniards, which 
spans a small stream, that winds its way at the bottom of a deep 
gorge between the mountains. The bridge is elevated some fifty 
or sixty feet above the bed of the stream ; and the horseman seems 
to pass in mid-air from one side of the ravine to the other. Many 
parts of the mountain road we were now traveling, will compare 
favorably with the Simplon — that noble work of Xapoleon — across 
the Alps. From the Puente, the road began to ascend still more 
rapidly, than it had before done since leaving San Martin ; and we 
soon found ourselves traversing a wild and mountainous reo'ion. 
Occasionally we wound around the sides of mural precipices of 
solid rock, several hundred feet in height, that scarcely left us 
room to pass with four or five horsemen abreast. The road at 
these points, was guarded by parapets, over which one looked 
down into wild and craggy abysses, many hundred fathoms below. 
Portions of the mountain scenery around us, reminded me so 
strongly of our Alleghany scenery in Maryland, that I found my- 
self constantly yielding to the illusion. As we wound upward, 
our road carried us very near the base of the snow-clad Iztacci- 
huatl, and nothing could exceed the beauty of the contrast, that 
its serrated crest occasionally presented, with the dark and somber 
foliage of the mountain pines. 

After a ride of forty miles from Puebla, and nine from the 
Puente de Tezmolucan , we reached the Bio Frio, or Cold river, at 
an elevation of 10,119 feet above the level of the sea. This little 
stream, whose waters are of icy coldness, and perfectly pellucid, 
and which winds its way over a pebbly bed in a mountain ravine, 
is regarded as a sort of boundary between Puebla and Mexico. 
There is an inn and a cluster of huts here ; and it is one of the 
customary halting places, for travelers to refresh themselves at, 
before undertaking the steep ascent of the mountains beyond. 
As we descended to the river, we came in full view of the two 
retreating generals, who were winding their way up the opposite 
heights. They had, by this time, to all appearance, got some 



178 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

inkling of our bearing a flag of truce, as they alternately halted to 
inspect the flag, as it came more fully into view, and then, as if 
doubting the evidence of their senses, or fearing some trick, rode 
on again. They repeated this two or three times, and for a while 
we flattered ourselves that they would halt and return to meet us. 
But their fears seemed Anally to get the better of them, and they 
rode out of sigh:, before we had reached the rio. As a " stern 
chase is a long chase," especially if the "chase* 5 be a Mexican 
lancer, and the pursuer an American dragoon, and as Captain 
Kearney was somewhat fatigued by his long day's ride — we had 
been ten hours in the saddle — he halted his detachment at the 
river for the nigh:, and mounting a native Mexican on a fresh 
horse, dispatched him in pursuit of the fugitives. In an hour or 
two afterward, our messenger returned, accompanied by one of 
General Portillo's aids-de-camp ; who was not authorized, he said, 
to permit us to advance farther, or. indeed, to give us any definite 
reply in regard to the mode in which our dispatches should be 
delivered, but only to "arrange preliminaries'* for a meeting be- 
tween his general and Captain Kearney, the next morning. As we 
had expected to have our business dispatched in five minutes after 
our object had been made known to the retreating generals, we had 

J CO 7 

much merriment over our supper — and the old German, who kept 
the inn. provided us an excellent one — at this characteristic piece 
of Mexican diplomacy. The Mexican diplomatist, whether civic 
or military, never does anything in a hurry; he proceeds like his 
great ancestor of the peninsula. po-:o a poco. and weighs every 
proposition presented to him deliberately, especially with a view 
to ascertain, whether there may not be seme trick or fraud covered 
up in it. The ■•' preliminaries" being settled, to wit, that Captain 
Kearney, with myself as his aid-de-camp, accompanied by five 
dragoons, would ride forward, on the morrow, to meet General 
Portillo. who was to be accompanied, in like manner, by one of 
his aids-de-camp and rive lancers, we made ourselves comfortable 
around the old German's stove — a lire, notwithstanding the occa- 
sional severity of the climate in these valleys of the Cordilleras, 
bein^r a great rarity — and with a bottle of good brandy, which 
we had brought all the way from Puebla with us — the common 
aguardiente of the country being about on a par with newly 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



179 



distilled whisky — solaced ourselves after the toils and chase of the 
day. A cold drizzling rain had set in just before dark, and we 
deemed ourselves fortunate in having found such comfortable 
quarters, to say nothing of snug and warm stables, and a plenty 
of straw and oats for our horses. It is true, we had driven the 
two generals, and their detachment, from these same quarters, 
forth among the bleak mountains, where they would find no shel- 
ter, other than that afforded by a deserted hut, for the next fifteen 
miles, but then this was the "fortune of war." 

When we were ready to retire for the night, a difficulty pre- 
sented itself. There were half a dozen officers of us, and the old 
German had but three beds ! It became necessary, therefore, 
once more, to " arrange preliminaries.' ' It was a very important 
affair, this matter of being bedded or bedless, on a cold, rainy 
night, in a mountain eyrie perched ten thousand feet and more 
above the level of the sea. But as brave men have done on 
other momentous occasions, we trusted everything to the "hazard 
of the die," and grasping, with a feeling akin to desperation, the 
greasy leathern dice-box of the old German, threw for our "night's 
rest" or unrest, as the case might be. Although generally an 
unlucky dog — as a midshipman, I used invariably to lose my 
month's pay on the " caballo" — I was among the fortunate winners 
on this occasion, and I am afraid, had the hard-heartedness, as I 
tucked in the heavy blankets of the old Dutchman around me, to 
feel all the more comfortable from the fact of having won the privi- 
lege. I soon fell asleep, lulled by a most delightful pattering of 
the rain on the roof, and an occasional gust of cold wind, as it 
shook and rattled the window-sash. I must have slept several 
hours, when I was aroused by what appeared, to my half-sleeping 
imagination, an infernal shout of demons. I got up and crept 
very cautiously to the door, whence the sound appeared to pro- 
ceed, and there, to my astonishment, I beheld a long table spread 
with viands, and covered with bottles and glasses, and our host 
about "half-seas-over," holding a midnight revel with about a 
dozen of our dragoons ; who, it seemed, were his fellow country- 
men, as they talked as good German as he did, and were not a 
whit behind him in their exuberant praises of " Faderland." But 
what astonished me more, was to see my " staff," Seymour — a 



180 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



Massachusetts lad, born, and bred — sitting cosily in the midst of 
them, with a "drop in his eye," trying to talk Dutch — not one 
word of which could the rascal speak! But Seymour "had 
sailed," and knew a thing or two more than the " gray jackets" 
with whom he associated. Haying satisfied my curiosity, I re- 
turned to my bed, and soon fell asleep again, dreaming of the 
Rhine, of the dryads and naiads of the Rio Frio, and of the Mexi- 
can lancers scampering off before us. 

The next morning, after a substantial breakfast, Captain Kear- 
ney and I, accompanied by our guide, and a single dragoon to 
carry our white flag, rode forward to meet General Portillo, as 
had been agreed upon the previous evening. We immediately 
began to ascend the last range of mountains that intervened be- 
tween us, and the great valley of Mexico. We had not traveled 
more than a couple of miles, however, when we were met by a 
captain of cavalry, one of the aids of the general, with a white 
flag in his hand, who, informing us that his chief was on his way 
to meet us, turned, and rode forward with us. A short distance 
beyond the Cuesta del SueTw — Sleepy Height — we met General 
Portillo himself, accompanied by another aid-de-camp, and the 
five lancers agreed upon, beside — thus making his force amount 
to eight, whereas but seven had been stipulated for in the " treaty." 
We were but four. We could not but be amused at this circum- 
stance. The general was a good-looking man, rather stout, of 
about fifty years of age, and quite dignified and gentleman-like 
in his manners. Unfortunately, the effect of the tout ensemble was 
spoiled by his being mounted on a small pony, and not being well 
dressed. The only bad point about his person was a somewhat 
villanous expression of countenance — which I did not wonder at, 
so much, when I was informed by our guide, that he had been a 
prominent actor in the massacre of Fannin. After a mutual salute, 
we explained to him, briefly, our business, and our orders, if per- 
mitted, to enter the city of Mexico and present our dispatches, in 
person, to the president. But he politely told us, that he had 
orders from General Canalizo, his chief, to halt us where we were, 
as no officer from our camp could be permitted to enter the city. 
It would give him pleasure, he said, to take charge of our dis- 
patches, and forward them safely to their destination. Much as 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



181 



we wished to get a view of the valley of Mexico — and we were 
now within seven or eight miles of the point whence this was to 
be had — we were obliged to forego the pleasure for the present ; 
and so handing over to him our dispatches, we took leave of him. 
It is hard to outdo a Mexican in politeness, but Captain Kearney 
and I were determined to have the last bow, and so we bowed his 
generalship half way back to his lancers, and then turning our 
horses' heads, with another bow, we commenced our descent to 
where we had halted our troop. Two of General Canalizo's aids, 
one a colonel and the other a major, with half a dozen blanketed 
lanceros, accompanied us back as far as the Puente de Tesmolucan, 
to recover the general's baggage, which, in his haste, he had left 
behind him, at this place, and also to look after his son, a lieu- 
tenant-colonel of cavalry, who, with two or three of his men, had 
got separated from his papa. 

We passed through San Martin, on our return, a little before 
night set in, and quartered ourselves at the hacienda of San Bar- 
tolo, three or four miles beyond. The last hour of our ride was 
through a misty rain, which rendering the various features of the 
landscape dim and indistinct, without altogether shutting them 
out from view, presented us with a somber, but pleasing picture 
of " still life." It having been a grand market day in San Martin, 
the Indians were returning to their homes, enveloped in their rude 
mattings, before described, besplashed by the muddy road, and 
dripping with rain, looking like so many strange and uncouth 
animals, rather than human beings. Upon our rapping at the 
door of the meson of San Bartolo, and inquiring for quarters, we 
were told that it was "occupado" that is to say, full (the usual 
Mexican subterfuge), until w r e threatened to turn some of the 
families of the village forth into the rain, when the honest mayor- 
domo immediately conducted us to the best rooms of the house ; 
which we, indeed, found occupado as he had said, but by pictures 
of the Virgin and the saints, and a plenty of good, substantial 
furniture, instead of human beings. It had, in fact, in the ab- 
sence of the master, been shut up for some time. The move- 
ments of the mayordomo being somewhat accelerated, upon this 
discovery, by the rap of a sabre or two on the brick floor — all 
the houses in Mexico have brick, or dirt floors — he soon threw 



182 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



open the windows, and dusted and arranged our new domicil for 
us. We did not fare quite so well here, in the matter oi provende, 
as we had done under the auspices of the old German, at the Rio 
Frio. " j\ r o hay!" — we have got none — was the invariable reply 
to all our inquiries for supper. " Cafe?" "no hay!" " Huevos — 
eggs V "no hay," etc. After considerable difficulty, we made 
two or three long-legged Indian boys run down several rather 
antiquated hens that were clucking about the corral, and so far pre- 
vailed over the cupidity of an old woman, as to induce her to find 
for us a dozen or so of eggs, with which, with the aid of rice and 
chili, and some coffee we had brought along with us, we caused 
to be prepared a very excellent supper. There were no knives in 
the meson, but plenty of massive silver forks of a rude construc- 
tion, and what with these and our pocket-knives, we managed, 
with much coaxing and ingenuity, to dismember the old fowls. 
The Mexican makes but little use of the knife at his meals, his 
fork and his fingers supplying all his necessities. We were in the 
saddle early the next morning, and were in Puebla by nine o'clock, 
a. m., having been absent but a little over two days. Although 
we had had a very agreeable excursion, like the luckless suitor in 
court, "we took nothing by our petition" in the matter of ex- 
changing prisoners — Santa Anna never deigning to give any 
reply to General Scott's communication, until we had given him 
another "licking." 



CHAPTER IX. 



Visit to the pyramid of Cholula — The massacre of Cholula — Escape of 
Passed-Midshipman Rogers, and his arrival at Puebla — Negotiations for 
peace commenced by Mr. Trist, through the mediation of the British min- 
ister — Struggle between Santa Anna and congress, to evade the responsi- 
bility of undertaking these negotiations — Failure of the negotiations — 
Santa Anna's strategy, military and political — His resignation of the presi- 
dency, and subsequent withdrawal of his resignation — General Scott's 
preparations for a forward movement — Arrival of reinforcements, under 
generals Pillow, Pearce, and Cadwalader — Arrival of the marines under 
Colonel Watson — Author is appointed aid-de-camp to General Worth, and 
joins his military family — Misunderstanding between generals Scott and 
Worth. 

A few days after my return from the expedition described in 
the last chapter, in company with General Pillow, and a large 
number of officers, I made a visit to the celebrated pyramid of 
Cholula, so frequently mentioned in the preceding pages. The 
4th Artillery preceded us at an early hour, and a company of the 
3d Dragoons gave us escort. The morning was very fine, and 
the landscape, as usual, was seen through that peculiar atmo- 
sphere of the highland tropics, which brought forth every feature 
of it, in that bold and beautiful distinctness so often described. — 
The long line of infantry that preceded us — the 4th Artillery was 
acting as infantry — and our gay cavalcade of officers, glittering 
in their red, and blue, and gold, presented a pleasing and animated 
picture. Cholula is situated to the north-west of Puebla, and is 
distant from it about six miles. It seemed, as we rode toward 
it, to lie at the very base of Popocatapetl, but it is many leagues 
distant. It has the appearance of a natural mound — common in 
these plains — covered by a growth of shrubs and forest trees. It 
is truncated, and its apex is crowned by a picturesque Gothic 
temple, embowered by venerable and frondiferous trees, to all 
appearance, from two to three centuries old. It is thus, indepen- 
dently of its associations, a beautiful feature of the landscape. 

(183) 



184 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



As we approached it, we threw it upon a back-ground of snow — 
the crest of Iztaccihuatl — and so perfect was the picture in all its 
minute outlines, and finish, that we paused with an exclamation 
of delight, to look upon it. A road winds round the pyramid, 
from its base to its top, and without dismounting we rode up to 
the church door, and hitched our horses beneath the fine old for- 
est trees. The terrace on which the church stands is one hundred 
and sixty-five feet square, and is surrounded by a parapet, against 
which stone benches have been constructed for the accommoda- 
tion of visitors. The church, as appears from an inscription over 
the principal doorway, was built in 1666. It is dedicated to 
" our Lady of Remedies of Cholula;" and sundry tablets and 
other offerings suspended from the walls, attest the belief of the 
pious Indians of the neighborhood, in the miraculous interposition 
of "our Lady,' ? in effecting a number of cures of the sick and 
maimed, that had resorted hither to implore her clemency. The 
pyramid of Cholula, unlike those of Egypt, is not wholly of 
artificial structure. From a narrow inspection which I gave it, 1 
came to the conclusion that it had originally been a natural 
mound, which the Indians had reduced to its present shape, and 
covered with successive layers of masonry. It is solid — having 
no chambers within — and the interior mass, after penetrating 
through the outer walls, is of earth. Its shape is quadrangular — 
each side, at the base, being thirteen hundred feet in length — and 
it is divided into three terraces. It thus resembles, in form, the 
grand Teoco.Ui of Mexico, as described to us by Bernal Diaz, and 
was used by the natives, as we know from positive testimony, for 
similar purposes ; that is, for the offering up of sacrifices to their 
gods. The walls, and the pavements of the terraces, were con- 
structed of the adobe, or sun-dried brick, interspersed with small 
stones, and a concrete of mortar and pebbles. Having provided 
myself with a pocket sextant and a tape-line, I traced a base-line 
in the plain below, and with the assistance of my friend, Captain 
Wayne, made the height of the pyramid above the point where 
we stood — about five hundred yards northward — two hundred and 
five feet. This measurement differs considerably from that of 
Humboldt — he making it less — but we repeated our observations 
several times, examined well the adjustment of our instrument, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



185 



and could hardly have been mistaken in so simple an operation. — 
Humboldt has made some strange mistakes, too, with regard to 
the height of the great pyramids near Tezcoco ( see Waddy 
Thomson's Recollections of Mexico). It is probable the great 
traveler relied upon information obtained from others ; or he may 
have been deceived by the imperfection of his instruments. The 
church on the terrace above, from its base to the top of its cross, 
measured ninety-five feet ; thus giving a total elevation of church 
and pyramid of three hundred feet. In these computations I 
have neglected the fractions of a foot. 

It was in good taste, instead of destroving', as zealots have done 
on other occasions, this magnificent monument of the ancient 
civilization of our continent, to crown it with a church of the true 
God. This small and unpretending Gothic temple, seated on the 
top of the pryamid of Cholula, embowered by druidical forest 
trees, looking over the vast plain of Puebla, and in turn looked 
down upon by the everlasting mountains, with their winding-sheets 
of snow, was to my mind the most befitting place for the worship 
of the Most High, I had ever beheld ; and I have looked with 
eyes of admiration, upon some of the most imposing and famous 
cathedrals, which the combined pride and religion of man have 
reared to commemorate their races and their creeds. How many 
historical recollections, too, thronged the mind of the American, 
as he looked forth from the top of that height, upon the surround- 
ing plain, beheld the flag of his country waving from the distant 
government house of Puebla, and listened to Anglo-Saxon voices, 
the clanking of steel, and the tread of cavalrv, as these sounds 
awakened the echoes of the old pyramid ! 

The present town of Cholula stands on the north-west of the 
pvramid, and is built, as are most of the towns in Mexico, of the 
adobe. The population, to all appearance, was less advanced in 
civilization, than their ancestors had been three centuries before. 
Ruins were strewn around in all directions, giving evidence of the 
former populousness of the dead city, and contrasting painfully, 
the ideas of by-gone opulence and splendor to which they gave 
rise, with the squalor and poverty of the present inhabitants. A 
few patches of corn and beans, inclosed by the maguey, and a few 



16 



186 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIG 



shops, where serapes and pulque were sold, were all that remained 
of the wealth of the Mecca of the Cordilleras ! 

I have already alluded to the famous massacre which was com- 
mitted here by Cortez ; and as it is one of the most startling 
events attending the march and conquest of the great captain, I 
shall make no apology to the reader for giving him a brief outline 
of it, as it has been handed down to us by Bernal Diaz, who was 
an eye-witness. Cortez, after having formed a league with the 
Tlascalans, not being satisfied with the deportment of the Cholu- 
lans, who had not sent him embassadors, with offers of submission, 
as the other surrounding tribes had done, resolved to pay them a 
visit before setting out for Mexico. Having encamped over night 
on the banks of the little stream, which the reader has already 
had pointed out to him, he approached the city, the next day, with 
all his people, something short of five hundred men, and with six 
thousand of his allies, the Tlascalans. The principal chiefs and 
priests went forth to meet him, with censers of burning incense in 
their hands, and after the usual ceremonies, invited him to enter 
their gates, with his Totonacs — these were some Indians who had 
accompanied him from the sea-coast — but requested that he would 
not permit the Tlascalans to enter, as these latter were their ene- 
mies. He accordingly encamped the Tlascalans outside the walls, 
and entered with the remainder of his forces. He was received 
with great demonstrations of friendship, and was lodged, with all 
his troops, in spacious houses, and for the first few days was abun- 
dantly supplied with provisions. At the end of this time, how- 
ever, the provisions began to grow scarce, and he was supplied 
with bread and water only, ^or was this the only indication of 
their altered intentions toward him. The Totonacs, in prying 
about the town, had discovered a number of trous de loup — pit- 
falls — with sharpened stakes driven in them, and carefully covered 
over, apparently for the destruction of the cavalry. Several of 
the Tlascalan soldiers stationed outside the walls, also informed 
Cortez, that they had seen large numbers of women and children 
leaving the city ; a sign among these people that a war was near 
at hand. Piles of stones had also been discovered on the flat tops 
of the houses. Finally, a Cholulan lady, who had become quite 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



187 



intimate with Dona Marina — a Tabascan princess, whom Cortez 
Lad brought along with him, as an interpreter — begged her to 
save herself in her house, from the danger that threatened the 
Spaniards ; whereupon, Dorla Marina, who was much attached to 
Cortez, with feminine tact, wormed out of her friend all the par- 
ticulars of a foul conspiracy, which had been set on foot by the 
natives, for the destruction of the Teules, or white men. Upon 
being questioned by Cortez, this lady admitted that her country- 
men, in concert with twenty thousand Mexicans, had formed a 
plan to massacre him and all his followers ; the Mexicans being 
then encamped not a great way from the city. Cortez, not satis- 
fied with these facts, caused Doiia Marina to entice two priests 
into her house, who confirmed all the Cholulan lady had said. — 
Being at length convinced of the treachery intended him, he 
resolved to take fearful vengeance of his hosts. He at first called 
together the principal persons of the city, and demanded of them 
whether they had any complaints to make of himself or his fol- 
lowers ; and if so, to state them openly like men of honor, and he 
would redress them. They replied they had none ; but on the 
contrary, were ready to supply him with everything he needed for 
his march. Cortez accepted this offer, and appointed the follow- 
ing day to set out ; the Cholulans departing highly pleased, think- 
ing that things were in proper train, and that their meditated 
treachery had not been discovered. The great captain now as- 
sembled his chiefs, and laying before them all the facts, as above 
disclosed, demanded to know of them what was best to be done. 
Some were in favor of returning to Tlascala, but the majority sub- 
mitted their judgment to that of their commander. The latter, 
who had already made up his mind, and probably only called this 
council of war out of respect to his associates, announced briefly 
his determination, and settled the programme of the great tragedy 
which was to come off on the morrow. The next day, the Span- 
iards saddled up their horses, got ready their artillery and arms, 
and formed themselves in military array (as if for departure), in 
the courtyard of their quarters, which they designed should be 
the principal theater of their revenge. The tamemes, or burthen- 
bearers, who had been promised them by the Cholulans to carry 
their baggage, arrived at the dawn of day accompanied by some 



188 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



forty nobles. As soon as they had entered the halls and chambers 
of the palace to get the baggage, guards were placed over them 
to prevent their egress. In the meantime, other nobles arrived 
with their troops, who were to form the guard of honor on the oc- 
casion. These were, in like manner, permitted to enter the court- 
yard, but denied egress, until all the principal nobility of Cholula 
were assembled in this huge slaughter-pen. Cortez, mounted on 
horseback, now spoke in the following terms, to the wondering and 
curious assemblage : "I, gentlemen, have done everything in my 
power to conciliate your good will. I entered peaceably into this 
city : and neither I, nor any of my followers have done you the 
least injury ; on the contrary, in order that you might have no 
cause of complaint, I have not permitted the Tlascalan troops to 
enter. Beside, I have requested you to declare freely, whether 
you had suffered any wrong, in order that I might redress it ; but 
with detestable perfidy, you have hid, under the semblance of 
friendship, the most cruel treachery, the object of which was to put 
to death myself and all my people. I am fully aware of all your 
malignant projects." Then calling to one side, four or five Cho- 
lulans, he asked them what had induced them to enter into so 
despicable a plot. They replied that the Mexican embassadors, to 
please their sovereign, had induced them to undertake it. Cor- 
tez, then, with a countenance lighted up with rage, spoke thus to 
the embassadors who were present: " These wicked persons, in 
order to excuse their crime, accuse you and your king of treache- 
ry — but I do not believe you capable of such baseness ; nor can I 
persuade myself that the great Montezuma can have become so 
bitter an enemy of mine, after having shown me so many proofs 
of his friendship — nor that having the ability to oppose my pre- 
tensions openly, he would resort to treachery to frustrate them. 
I will, therefore, cause your persons to be respected, while I give 
these perverse men a lesson, which they will long remember. — 
They shall this day perish, and their city shall be destroyed. I 
call heaven and earth to witness, that it is their treachery which 
causes us to commit an act so abhorrent to our inclinations.' ' 

Having finished this harangue, he gave the signal for the at- 
tack, which was the discharge of a musket, and the Spaniards 
rushed with such sanguinary fury upon the terror-stricken multi- 



IX THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



189 



tude, that not one of that vast assemblage was left alive ! Rivulets 
of blood flowed through the yard, and the screams and groans 
of the dying were sufficient to have turned the hearts of the most 
obdurate to mercy. The gates of the corral were now thrown 
open, and the Spaniards sallied forth into the streets, and sheathed 
their bloody swords, indiscriminately, in every one they met. 
The Tlascalans, at the same time, rushed into the city, and like 
blood-thirsty tigers — their ferocity sharpened by their hatred of 
their enemies, and their desire to please their new allies — com- 
menced also the work of death. So horrible and unexpected a 
blow threw the inhabitants into the greatest consternation ; but 
having rallied, after the first surprise, they collected together, 
and made a vigorous resistance, until they saw the terrible 
ravages committed by the cannon, when they were again thrown 
into disorder, and retreated in the utmost alarm. The majority 
saved themselves by flight, but the more superstitious (or rather, 
ought not we to say, the more religious ?) ran to the great tem- 
ple — the pyramid — and endeavored to throw down its walls, in 
obedience to an ancient tradition, to the effect, that when the 
walls of this pyramid should be thrown down, their gods would 
flood the city, and so destroy their enemies. But finding their 
labor in vain, they shut themselves up in their houses and temples. 
But this did not avail them, for the Spaniards set fire to every 
house where they found any resistance. Thus, in the midst of 
burning houses and temples, the slaughter went on. The streets 
were filled with dead bodies, some of them half devoured by the 
flames, and no other sounds were heard, but the insulting brava- 
does of the confederates — the wail of the multitude — the execra- 
tions of the victims, and their wild complaints against their gods, 
for having abandoned them in such an extremity. What is most 
remarkable in this awful tragedy is, that of all those devotees 
who fled to the temples, there was but a single one who sur- 
rendered himself to the enemy — all the rest, either perished 
miserably in the flames, or sought a more speedy death by leap- 
ing from the temple walls, and crushing themselves in pieces. In 
this horrible affair, there perished six thousand Cholulans, and 
the city remained for a long time depopulated. To crown their 
glory the more completely, the Spaniards sacked the houses and 



190 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



temples, and took possession of all the jewels, gold and silver ; 
leaving to their confederates, the Tlascalans, as their share of the 
plunder, the clothing, feather work, provisions and salt. 

Such was the massacre of Cholula, about which, strange to 
say, historians have differed. Some writers, blinded by the daz- 
zling career of Cortez, maintain that he was justified in commit- 
ting so great an outrage upon humanity, by the circumstances — 
many of the latter of which, in my opinion, were wholly fanciful. 
If an example had been wanted, it w ould have been quite suffi- 
cient, to have seized a few of the ringleaders, and put them to 
death. Cortez knew full well, that Montezuma was at the bot- 
tom of the plot, if plot there was, but with consummate art, he 
pretended to disbelieve it ; and then the subsequent sacking of the 
city, and the appropriation to himself and his followers, of all the 
jewels, and gold and silver found, throws over the whole affair, a 
suspicion, which, unfortunately for the great captain, will rest 
forever as a stain upon his escutcheon. His own countryman, 
Las Casas, condemns him ; and as the venerable bishop of Chiapas 
followed close on the heels of the conquest, his testimony should 
be sufficient for posterity. 

August 2d. To-day, my mission was suddenly brought to a 
close, by the appearance of the gentleman of whom I was in pur- 
suit. Much to my surprise, as well as gratification, an " orderly" 
came to inform me, that Passed-Midshipman Rogers was at the 
head-quarters of the general-in-chief. This young gentleman 
had, indeed, made his escape from the city of Mexico, two days 
before ; and with the assistance of a guide, supplied him by an 
English friend, had threaded his way in safety, over the moun- 
tains, by the old and unfrequented route between Popocatepetl 
and Iztaccihuatl ; thence through Cholula, and so on into Puebla. 
I had no thought, however, of returning to the squadron, now 
that we were on the eve of commencing our glorious campaign, 
and I found, on consulting my late " secretary of legation" — now 
hors du combat in the diplomatic line — that he was not at all in- 
clined to regard his " revel" with the old German at the Rio Frio, 
as an equivalent for the greater "revel in the halls," which he had 
promised himself. I had an excellent excuse, too, for remaining 
with the army, as our communications with Vera Cruz had been, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



191 



for some time, cut off, except as they were occasionally reopened 
by the upward passage to us of reinforcements. Mr. Rogers, 
also, was as anxious as myself to revisit, as a conqueror, the 
capital in which he had spent so many dreary months as a prisoner ; 
and so it was soon settled between us, that we should remain, 
and at the opportune moment, seek some proper positions for our- 
selves in the ranks of our military brethren, where we might 
render such humble aid in the coming battles, as the country had 
a right to expect of us, under the circumstances. Even the 
services of a " horse-marine" might not be unavailable in the 
desperate struggle which was to ensue, between our "handful" 
of an army, and the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. 

While General Scott had, as we have seen, been making his 
military preparations for an advance upon the great valley, Mr. 
Trist had not been idle. This gentleman, whom we left at Jalapa, 
had accompanied General Twiggs' division in its march upon 
Puebla, and had reached head-quarters a few days after the ar- 
rival of the general-in-chief. The misunderstanding between Gene- 
ral Scott and himself continuing for some weeks after their arrival 
in Puebla, and the former manifesting no disposition to put the 
latter in communication with the Mexican government, the friendly 
offices of the British minister, Mr. Packenham, were invoked. 
This gentleman, with a ready courtesy, consenting to become a 
medium of communication, Mr. Trist, toward the latter part of 
June, forwarded through him, to the Mexican minister of foreign 
affairs, the following dispatch from Mr. Buchanan, our secretary 
of state : 

"Department of State, Washington, April 15, 1847. 
"To his Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Relations of the 
Mexican Republic. 

"Sir: — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
excellency's note of the 22d of February last, in answer to mine 
of the 18th of January, proposing, on the part of the president 
of the United States, immediately to ' dispatch, either to the Ha- 
vana or Jalapa, as the Mexican government may prefer, one or 
more of our most distinguished citizens, as commissioners clothed 
with full powers to conclude a treaty of peace with similar commis- 



192 



GENERAL SCOTt's CAMPAIGN 



sioners, on the part of Mexico, as soon as he shall be officially 
informed that the Mexican government will appoint such commis- 
sioners.' 

"The president deeply regrets the refusal of the Mexican gov- 
ernment to accede to this friendlv overture 'unless the raising of 
the blockade of our [Mexican] ports, and the complete evacuation 
of the territory of the republic by the invading forces shall be 
previously accepted as a preliminary condition.' 

" The president has instructed me to inform you that this 'pre- 
liminary condition' is wholly inadmissible. Such a condition is 
neither required by the honor, nor sanctioned by the practice of 
nations. If it were, this would tend to prolong wars, especially 
between conterminous countries, until the one or the other 
power was entirely subdued. No nation, which at the expendi- 
ture of blood and treasure, has invaded its enemy's country and 
acquired possession of any considerable portion of his territory, 
could ever consent to withdraw its forces, as a preliminary condi- 
tion to the opening of negotiations for peace. This would be at 
once to abandon all the advantages it had obtained in the rrose- 
cution of the war, without any certainty that peace would result 
from the sacrifice. Nay, more ; should such a negotiation prove 
unsuccessful, the nation which had thus imprudently withdrawn 
its forces from the enemy's territory, might not be able to recover, 
even at a cost of blood and treasure equal to that first expended, 
the advantageous position which it had voluntarily abandoned. 

n Fortunately for the cause of peace and humanity, the history 
of nations at war affords no sanction to such a preliminary condi- 
tion. The United States are as jealous of their national honor as 
any power on the face of the earth ; and yet it never entered into 
the contemplation of the great statesmen, who administered our 
government during the period of our last war with Great Britain, 
to insist that the latter should relinquish that portion of our terri- 
tory of which she was in actual possession, before they would 
consent to open negotiations for peace. On the contrary, they took 
the initiative, and appointed commissioners to treat for peace while 
portions of our territory were held by the enemy; and it is a 
remarkable fact, that the treaty of Ghent was concluded by the 
plenipotentiaries of the two powers, while the war was raging on 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



193 



both sides, and the most remarkable of the conflicts to which it 
gave rise took place upon our own soil, after the negotiators had 
happily terminated their labors. History is full of such examples. 
Indeed, so far as the undersigned is aware, there is not to be 
found, at least in modern times, a single case, except the present, 
in which it has been considered a necessary preliminary, that an 
invading army should be withdrawn before negotiations for peace 
could commence between the parties to the war. 

"It would also be difficult to find a precedent for the course 
pursued by the Mexican government in another particular. The 
president, anxious to avoid the war now existing, sent a minister 
of peace to Mexico for this purpose. After the Mexican forces 
had attacked the army of General Taylor, on this side of the Rio 
Grande, and thus commenced the war, the president, actuated by 
the same friendly spirit, has made repeated overtures to the gov- 
ernment of Mexico to negotiate for its termination. And although 
he has, from the beginning, solemnly declared before the world, 
that he desired no terms but such as were just and honorable for 
both parties ; yet the Mexican government, by refusing to receive 
our minister, in the first place, and afterward, by not acceding to 
our overtures to open negotiations for peace, has never afforded 
to this government even the opportunity of making known the 
terms on which we would be willing to settle all questions in dis- 
pute between the two republics. The war can never end while 
Mexico refuses even to hear the proposals, which we have always 
been ready to make, for peace. 

"The president will not again renew the offer to negotiate, at 
least until he shall have reason to believe that it would be accepted 
by the Mexican government. Devoted, however, to honorable 
peace, he is determined that the evils of war shall not be pro- 
tracted one day longer than shall be rendered absolutely necessary 
by the Mexican republic. For the purpose of carrying this deter- 
mination into effect, with the least possible delay, he will forthwith 
send to the head-quarters of the army in Mexico, Nicholas P. 
Trist, Esq., the officer next in rank to the undersigned in our 
department of foreign affairs, as a commissioner invested with full 
powers to conclude a definite treaty of peace with the united 
Mexican states. This gentleman possesses the entire confidence 
17 



194 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



of the president, and is eminently worthy of that of the Mexican 
government. 

" The undersigned refrains from all comment upon the conclud- 
ing paragraph, as well as some other portions of your excellency's 
note, because the strong sense he entertains of their injustice to- 
ward the United States, could not be uttered in the friendly tone 
which he desires to preserve in the present communication. He 
turns from these, therefore, to dwell, as he does with unfeigned 
pleasure, upon a sentiment contained in an early part of the same 
note, where the Mexican government expresses how painful it is 
'to see disturbed the sincere friendship which is cultivated with 
your [our] republic, whose continued progress it has always ad- 
mired, and whose institutions have served it as a model/ 

" This feeling is most cordially reciprocated by the president, 
whose earnest desire it is that the united Mexican states, under 
institutions similar to our own, may protect and secure the liberty 
of their people, and attain an elevated standing among the nations 
of the earth. 

"The undersigned embraces the occasion to offer to your excel- 
lency the assurance of his most distinguished consideration. 

"James Buchanan." 

No government, perhaps, ever practiced more forbearance to- 
ward an enemy, not only in the discussions preceding the war, 
but in the delicacy with which the war was conducted, than did 
the administration of Mr. Polk toward Mexico. After all diplo- 
matic intercourse had ceased, by the withdrawal of the respective 
ministers, our government, in its note of the 17th June, 1845, 
proposed to the Mexican republic, to send a commissioner to meet 
one on the part of that republic, to endeavor to settle amicably 
the questions in dispute between the two countries. The Mexican 
government, in its note of the 15th October of the same year, 
agreed to receive such commissioner. The mission of Mr. Slidell, 
of which the reader has been informed, was the consequence. 
On the 18th of January, 1847 — after the battles of the Rio Grande 
and Monterey — the United States renewed their proposition to 
enter into negotiations. On the 22d of February of the same 
year, the Mexican government replied that it would receive a 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



195 



commissioner and enter into negotiations, on the condition of a pre- 
vious withdrawal of our troops from its territory, and a raising of 
the blockade of its ports. Our government, although it refused 
to accede to these unreasonable demands, nevertheless appointed, 
as we have seen by the above letter of Mr. Buchanan, a special 
commissioner to proceed to the head-quarters of its armies, and 
thence to announce to the Mexican government, his readiness to 
receive any propositions the latter might have to make. Vera 
Cruz had now been captured ; the battle of Cerro Gordo had been 
fought ; our army had occupied Puebla ; quiet possession had been 
taken of New Mexico ; Upper California had been secured, 
and our naval forces, in both seas, had reduced to subjection all 
the principal maritime ports. If the object of the United States, 
in entering upon the war with Mexico, had been conquest, as has 
been charged by foreign nations, and by political partisans at 
home, here was her enemy prostrate at her feet. She had only 
to rivet the chains, which she had already imposed ; but with a 
magnanimity, highly creditable to those who were at the head of 
affairs in our country, she still held forth the olive branch, and 
endeavored to stop the effusion of blood. It is true, the new 
commissioner was instructed to require a cession of a portion of 
the enemy's contiguous territory, as a compensation — the only one 
which he could make us, in the impoverished condition of his 
finances — to indemnify us, in part, for the enormous expenses of 
the war, to which we had been unnecessarily subjected. But the 
acquisition of this territory, as desirable as it was to us on many 
accounts, formed no motive for the war ; and there can be no 
question that the war would never have occurred, had Mexico 
submitted, with a little more common sense, to the independence 
aud subsequent annexation of Texas. New Mexico and Califor- 
nia would, no doubt, have fallen into our confederacy, as the ripe 
fruit drops to the ground, but no rude hand would have been put 
forth to gather them, and probably the consummation would not 
have occurred for several generations. If nations will be silly, 
and bully and insult their neighbors into wars, on questions on 
which they are clearly in the wrong, they should be made to 
bear the burthens of these wars, and thus do penance for their 
folly. 



196 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



The presentation of Mr. Buchanan's letter produced great ex- 
citement in Mexico, among the tribe of politicians, each one of 
whom was either trying, by means of the war, to hold on to office, 
or to ride into it. Badly beaten as they were, at all points, and 
convinced, as at least the more intelligent of them could not but 
be, that they were engaged in a hopeless struggle, in which the 
issue was one of national life and death, they nevertheless pro- 
claimed "war to the knife/ ' and endeavored each to outdo his 
neighbor, in the loudness of his vociferation. What cared they 
for the ultimate fate of the country ; they were politicians hunger- 
ing after office, and the war-cry was popular ? The congress — 

a constituent congress which had been called together on the aC- 
CS O 

cession of Santa Anna, to re-enact the constitution of 1824 — 
which had adjourned a short time before, was convoked anew, in 
order that Mr. Buchanan's dispatch might be laid before it. The 
American reader, acquainted with the distribution of powers under 
our constitution, is, of course, wondering why the Mexican execu- 
tive did not act upon this letter, before referring the subject-mat- 
ter of it to congress. A word or two of explanation will be ne- 
cessary. In Mexico, unlike with us, the congress had frequently 
been invested with by the people, or had assumed extraordinary 
powers. There was no warrant for this in the constitution ; but in the 
military disorders which had so frequently prevailed in the coun- 
try, rendering dictatorships and provisional governments ne- 
cessary, the practice had grown up and been acquiesced in. The 
present congress being a constituent one, had, on the 20th of 
April, declared that any Mexican who should listen to terms of 
accommodation with the enemy, should be deemed a traitor. It 
had beside, in the same decree, so far restricted the functions of 
the executive, as to prohibit him from "making a peace with the 
enemy." 

The members of congress were very dilatory in getting toge- 
ther ; some pleading their inability to pay their traveling expenses, 
unless they were advanced to them by the government ; some 
complaining of the infestment of the roads by robbers ; some of 
one thing and some another ; but all endeavoring to avoid the 
responsibility of committing themselves, otherwise than on the 
stump, on the question of peace or war. The war question was 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



197 



just now popular ; but if the country should be further beaten, and 
reduced to the necessity of making further concessions, their re- 
jection of our proposals might be thrown up to them, in after 
canvasses for office. A quorum — seventy-four — was gotten toge- 
gether, however, on the 13th of July, when an amusing struggle 
took place between it and the president — General Santa Anna ; 
each trying to throw the responsibility of taking the initiative, in 
regard to our propositions, on the other. Congress declared, in a 
report which was made by a committee of three, with Senor 
Otero at its head, and which was adopted by a vote of 52 to 22, 
that the 110th article of the constitution provides that "the execu- 
tive of the union shall direct all diplomatic relations, and shall 
celebrate all treaties of peace, friendship, alliance, truce, federa- 
tion, armed neutrality, commerce, and of whatever other nature ; 
referring said treaties to congress for ratification, before they shall 
be considered binding;" and that the 15th section of the same 
article, "devolves exclusively upon the executive, the duty of re- 
ceiving ministers and other employees of foreign powers," and 
that consequently, it was the duty of the president to receive Mr. 
Trist, and act upon his proposals, before having recourse to their 
body. "With regard to any other extraordinary powers/' con- 
tinues the report, "which were conferred on this body by the 
'Plan of the Ciudadela,' and the convocatory law thence issued 
for calling it together, these powers have become functus officio, 
by the adoption of the new constitution ; and consequently, the 
decree of the 20th of April, limiting the prerogatives of the exe- 
cutive, has ceased to exist." In reply to this report, General 
Santa Anna, through his minister, Pacheco, addressed a lengthy 
message to the house, in which he maintained that his hands were 
still tied by the decree of the 20th of April, and that according to 
his understanding of his constitutional duties, he could not receive 
Mr. Trist, nor consider his proposals, unless this decree were re- 
pealed. " The constituent congress still existing [else, he asks 
of this body, how came you here ?] all the powers with which it 
was invested, exist also — and consequently, it is not sufficient for 
congress to declare that the decree of the 20th of April does not 
exist, since its declaration does not amount to a repeal ; and I am 
as competent to judge of its existence, or non-existence, as con- 



198 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



gress is. The adoption of the new constitution has made no 
change, as congress has indirectly declared by its own acts, it 
having exercised some of its extraordinary functions, since the 
adoption of this instrument." ****** The whole 
difficulty between the legislative and executive bodies, being, as 
the reader perceives by the above extracts, the existence or non- 
existence of the decree of the 20th of April, it would have been 
an easy matter for congress to repeal the decree, in form, which 
it contended, did not exist ; but it feared that by so doing, it might 
give color to the idea, that it had encouraged the executive to re- 
ceive our propositions. The executive, on the other hand, might 
have been satisfied with the declaration of congress to the effect, 
that the decree did not exist; so far as it apprehended any censure 
from the people, of unduly exercising its functions ; but the fact 
is, that neither intended to do anything more, than endeavor to 
outwit the other, and evade the responsibility of being the first to 
encourage the reception of our minister, and his proposals for 
peace. 

The whole discussion was eminently Mexican ; and if it does not 
rank very high in common sense, it is at least to be admired for 
its Machiavelian diplomacy. It is amusing too, to one acquainted 
with the history of the parties, to witness this virtuous struggle 
of theirs to keep within the limits of their constitutional duties ! 
General Santa Anna splitting hairs with a Mexican congress, on 
constitutional law ! Whatever may be said of these gentlemen 
in the field, they are, unquestionably, astute special pleaders in 
council. They humbugged Mr. Polk into sending Mr. Slidell to 
Mexico, and into permitting General Santa Anna to pass ; they 
humbuo-o'ed General Tavlor into o-rantino- them an armistice of 
six weeks, at Monterey, under pretense that they were anxious 
for peace ; and they endeavored to humbug us again this time, by 
inducing us to withdraw our land forces, and raise the blockade 
of their ports, as a u preliminary' ? to negotiation ; but they missed 
it. We must go ahead now, and give them two or three more 
floggings ; but ten to one, before we enter the city of Mexico, I 
shall have to record their having huinbuowd General Scott more 
than once. Punica fides, except for its being classic, ought, un- 
questionably, to be changed into fides Mexicana. General Santa 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



199 



Anna not only dared not treat with us, in consequence of the ad- 
verse current of public opinion, but as a military man, he was 
naturally anxious to try again the fortune of war. As often as 
he had been beaten, he could not humble himself to the belief, 
that he and his countrymen were our inferiors. His self-love had 
various other excuses to offer him for his disasters. In his dis- 
patches and private letters, he blindly raved against fate, and 
accused his confederates of treason ; a charge which is very com- 
monly made in Mexico, and being often made, must occasionally 
be true. With great energy he busied himself in fortifying the 
capital, and in collecting and organizing troops. He was not idle, 
either, as a politician ; but resorted to various artifices to strength- 
en himself and disarm party opposition. One of these artifices 
was the resignation of his office, which he made to congress. — 
With the hope that this resignation would not be accepted, but 
that the nation, through its representatives, would insist upon his 
remaining at the head of affairs, at the same time that it granted 
him additional powers for carrying on the war, he drew up an 
egotistical document, announcing his desire of retiring to private 
life, and laying down the burthens and cares of office. This 
paper, being presented to congress, unfortunately for him, did not 
produce the effect he had intended. It was not immediately acted 
upon, as he had hoped it would be, by the nation's throwing itself 
at his feet, and entreating him to save it. The members of con- 
gress, on the contrary, began to discuss and consider it, and to 
cast around them for a successor. Things beoinnino* thus to be- 
come serious, the magnanimous general became alarmed ; and as 
the only means of saving himself, hastily withdrew the document. 
In his "withdrawal of his resignation," he used the following 
language: "When I tendered my resignation of the supreme 
command of the republic, I was actuated by powerful motives, 
which I made known to congress, and by others which I deemed 
it proper to conceal from the public view. Every day convinces 
me more and more, of the solidity and propriety of these reasons ; 
nevertheless, I have been waiting, now many days [only five], the 
decision of the legislative body, experiencing not only the inconve- 
niences inseparable from a position already too much complicated, 
but those which result from the state of expectation and anxiety, 



200 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



in which the public finds itself, and which produces, every instant, 
new phases in the political drama. I have requested that mv 
resignation should be immediately acted upon, in order that, with- 
out abandoning my post, my successor might be indicated. I 
was induced to make this request, not only by my desire to retire, 
as speedily as practicable, from the very difficult position in which 
I found myself ; but because I was convinced that the least delay 
would keep alive public agitation, and probably lead to events 
which might change the face of affairs. I desired, with impa- 
tience, that some other person should succeed me, as the invading 
army did not intend moving immediately upon the capital, and 
the new chief of the state would have had ample time to attend 
to the public defense — but I learn now, that the enemy's forces 
are about to march, and may be expected from one moment to 
another [we did not march for two months afterward] ; we should 
thus suffer an invasion of the capital, at the same time that we 
changed the government, which would be hazardous, and might 
decide the fate of the war. The news of my withdrawal from the 
supreme power, has, as I have understood, caused this movement 
of the enemy. [General Scott never paid the least attention to 
it.] This is an affair of much importance, and demands of me a 
prompt decision, that I may save the capital. Since I presented 
my resignation, I have received new testimonials of confidence 
from all classes, and from the most influential persons in society. 
I perceive that these persons have a fixed resolve of causing me 
to abandon my intention (their resolve being founded upon a 
conviction of the necessity of preserving the actual state of things, 
in order not to hazard the safety of this populous city, and the 
nation). am going, therefore, to make this 

last and painful sacrifice — the sacrifice of my self-love ; and I 
have decided to withdraw the resignation, which I presented on 
the 23th ult., which from this moment will be regarded as though 
it had never been presented. " 

Being thus forced to unmask himself, this astute constitutional 
lawyer, who, a little while ago, was splitting hairs with the 
congress, now assumed and exercised dictatorial powers, and 
proceeded, without the intervention or authority of congress, to 
levy forced contributions upon the inhabitants of the capital ; taking 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



201 



care to spare his friends, while he bore down with a heavy 
hand upon his enemies. The church, as usual, went to the wall, 
and was made to bear its full proportion of the burthens ; His 
Excellency putting its duty to contribute, on the grounds that 
" the clergy cannot in conscience consent to the domination of a 
people, which admits as a dogma of its political creed, the tole- 
rance of all religious sects/' and that "the sacrifice of a portion 
of their effects would relieve them from the danger of losing the 
rest, together with those privileges which are upheld by our laws, 
but denied by those of the United States." 

The following schedule will give the reader an idea of the man- 
ner in which these things are done in our sister republic : 

Contributions levied by order of General Santa Anna on certain cor- 
porations and individuals in the city of Mexico, a short time 
previous to General Scott's march upon that capital. 

4 convents and 14 individuals, at 3000 each, 854,000 



8 individuals, 


at 2500 " 


20,000 


1 cathedral and 3 individuals, 


at 2250 " 


9,000 


4 convents and 8 do. 


at 2000 " 


24,000 


6 do. etc., and 7 do. 


at 1500 " 


19,500 


4 individuals, 


at 1200 " 


4,800 


2 convents and 30 individuals, at 1000 " 


32,000 


4 do. and 6 do. 


at 


900 " 


9,000 


1 college and 5 do. 


at 


800 " 


4,800 


2 convents and 12 do. 


at 


750 " 


10,500 


4 individuals 


at 


700 " 


2,800 


13 do. 


at 


600 " 


7,800 


16 do. 


at 


500 " 


8,000 


4 colleges, convents, etc., ) 
and 41 individuals, ) 


at 


450 " 


20,250 


Archbishop and 7 individuals, 


at 


400 " 


3,200 


56 individuals, 


at 


300 " 


16,800 


1 convent and 5 do. 


at 


250 " 


1,500 


1 do. and 16 do. 


at 


200 " 


3,400 


12 colleges, convents, etc., ) 
and 117 individuals, J 


at 


150 


19,350 


5 individuals, 


at 


125 " 


625 



202 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

43 individuals, at 100 each, 4,300 

4 churches, colleges, etc., ) 

A f4« ' A' A i f at 50 " 9 > 000 

and 1/6 individuals, ) 
13 churches, colleges, etc., ) 
and 23 J individuals, ) 

Total, 8230,875 



Soon after leaving Jalapa, General Scott saw the necessitv of 
abandoning his first idea of carrying on the war on the magnifi- 
cent scale of garrisoning all the posts in his rear, and which old 
rule of European tactics I have endeavored to show, was inappli- 
cable to his condition, and to the nature of the war in which he 
was engaged, and withdrew Lieutenant- Colonel Childs and his 
detachment. 

On the 8th June, a large train of wagons — five hundred — and 
a detachment of about two thousand five hundred men, all under 
the command of General Pillow, arrived in Puebla. A portion 
of this train, under Colonel Mcintosh, was attacked at the Paso 
de Ovejas, and lost about forty wagons, and some thirty-five or 
forty men, killed and wounded. General Cadwallader, in com- 
mand of six hundred men, came up with this train. A court of 
inquiry was hell to inquire into the circumstances attending 
Colonel Mcintosh's loss, which resulted in the acquittal of the 
gallant old soldier of all blame ; but facts were developed during 
the investigation, showing that many of our men, who were raw 
recruits, had behaved badly before the enemy. 

On the 6th August. General Pierce arrived in command of two 
thousand five hundred men. including a detachment of three 
hundred marines, under Colonel Watson. These men, with the 
exception of the marines, all belonged to the ten new regiments, 
which had been authorized by congress soon after the commence- 
ment of the war. Many of the officers of these corps were very 
hard-looking citizens, who, apparently, required much drilling and 
" breaking in," to be rendered serviceable. Their uniforms looked 
as though they had been made by the " tailor of the village" 
whence the appointed came : they sat their horses awkwardly, 
and wore their arms and spurs, like very clever country gentle- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



203 



men, who might have figured, on a race course, or at an election, 
but who had evidently had but little acquaintance with barracks 
or battle-field. The most shameful disregard of the claims of the 
" old officers' ' had been practiced in filling up these new regi- 
ments, and a general disgust was the consequence — not that these 
officers expected civilians to be entirely excluded, but they thought 
themselves entitled to at least a share of the appointments. They 
forgot, for a moment, that they were not politicians, entitled to be 
conciliated and " sopped/' but the patriotic defenders of their 
country, removed from the precincts of the ballot-box. 

General Scott's forces now amounted to about thirteen thousand 
men, which, after making the necessary deductions for a garrison 
he intended to leave at Puebla, and the large numbers of invalids 
in the hospitals, would leave him a marching force of between 
eleven and twelve thousand. Thus, after waiting four months, 
and giving the enemy ample time to recruit and strengthen him- 
self, he was but little, if any, better prepared for offensive opera- 
tions than he had been before he discharged the volunteers at 
Jalapa, and by that act, lost the glorious opportunity of seizing, 
by a coup de main, the enemy's capital ! Other reinforcements 
would soon be up, consisting of volunteer regiments which were 
being actively called out, and forwarded to the seat of war ; but 
he decided upon waiting no longer, and with that small force, we 
put ourselves in motion for the terminus of our campaign. 

A few days before our march, Lieutenant Shubrick of the navy, 
who had come up with the marines, was invited to occupy a posi- 
tion on the staff of General Shields — one of whose regiments — the 
gallant Palmetto — came from his native state ; and Mr. Rogers 
and myself, in accordance with our pre-determination, were an- 
nounced in general orders, as aids-de-camp of generals Pillow and 
Worth, respectively. I now took an affectionate leave of my 
messmates, with whom I had journeyed so long, and became a 
member of General Worth's military family. One of my first 
services was to carry an order to poor Ransom, the gallant Colo- 
nel of the 9th, who was afterward killed in the storm of Cha- 
pultepec. Ransom and I had, some years before, been shipmates 
on board the frigate Constellation ; and as we confronted each 
other — we had not met since — I, with my heavy cavalry sabre 



204 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



and immense Mexican spurs, and he, in the jaunty uniform of a 
colonel of infantry, which became him so well, we were so amused 
by the mutual transformation, that our first salutation was a 
hearty laugh. Fortune had, indeed, played us many strange 
freaks since we had left the good old frigate in the harbor of 
Pensacola ; and not the least strange of all those freaks, was the 
converting us both into soldiers, and sending us forth on a cam- 
paign in the valley of Mexico, which had, up to this period, been 
so much of a terra incognita, as to be associated in our minds with 
little else than Cortez and Montezuma. 

General Worth's division — the first division of Regulars — was 
composed of two brigades, under colonels Garland and Clarke. 
The 2d and 3d regiments of artillery, and the 4th regiment of 
infantry, constituted the first brigade, and the 5th, 6th and 8th 
infantry constituted the second brigade. Duncan's light artillery, 
and Smith's light battalion of infantry, formed independent com- 
mands. Beside the general himself, our military family consisted 
of Captain Mackall, adjutant-general, Captain Pemberton, aid-de- 
camp, Lieutenant Wood, aid-de-camp, and myself. We had no 
such artiste for the kitchen as Monsieur Auguste ; but our gallant 
caterer, Lieutenant Wood, always kept this necessary department 
supplied with the best native talent. An English soldier can 
never be brought to a " charge" unless he has a clean shirt on, 
and his stomach well filled ; and as Brother Jonathan inherits 
many of the peculiarities of his English ancestor, it is seen that I 
do not attach too much importance to the culinary arrangements 
of our mess. I must not forget to mention here, our faithful 
mayordomos, Abram and Sandy, two intelligent slaves, one be- 
longing to the general, and the other to Lieutenant Wood, who 
had accompanied their masters in all their campaigns ; were fre- 
quently under fire ; and felt, I verily believe, as much interest 
and pride in the success of our arms as their masters themselves. 
Abram might always be seen near the general, toward the close 
of an ensraeement, with a basket of refreshments on his arm, and 
looking with an anxious eye to ascertain whether his master had 
been hurt. These faithful fellows were at liberty, at all times, to 
depart without let or hindrance ; but they remained faithful to the 
close of the war, and used frequently to compare exultingly their 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



205 



own condition with that of the toiling peons — the free slaves — by 
whom they were surrounded. They preferred, they said, to be 
the servants of gentlemen, rather than consort with "poor white 
trash," and especially with poor "Indian trash. " 

Sometime before leaving Puebla, a coolness ensued between 
generals Scott and Worth, which I would not allude to here, were 
it not notorious to the whole country, and had it not been produc- 
tive of consequences which form a part of the res gestaz of the 
campaign. I have detailed the very flattering manner in which 
General Worth had received his commander-in-chief, upon the 
arrival of the latter in Puebla, and the splendid banquet which he 
gave in his honor. The two generals had been friends for many 
years, and each had reflected honor on the other ; their military 
fame was equally dear to the country, and hence it is important that 
the country should understand the relative positions occupied by 
each in the difficulties which ensued, and which were made notorious 
at the time by the pens of interested scribblers, who gave a false 
coloring to the w T hole transaction. I propose, for the present, but 
to glance at the origin of these difficulties, deferring to its proper 
time and place a brief sketch of their progress. General Worth, 
when he approached the city of Puebla, on the 15th of May (in 
that glorious march, inw r hich, as has been described, with a hand- 
ful of men, he separated himself from the main body of the army, 
and threw himself boldly into the heart of the enemy's country), 
halted for an hour or two, at a small village, five or six miles from 
the city, to receive a deputation of the municipality. The object 
of this visit of the municipality was to surrender the city, and at 
the same time to request that some guarantees might be given 
them — in order to quiet the apprehensions of the people — for the 
protection of religion, life, and property. There was no military 
force in Puebla to demand anything ; and these guarantees, if 
granted at all, w r ere to be granted ex gratia. General Worth did 
not hesitate a moment, but with sound judgment, and a policy of 
which the commander-in-chief had himself set him an example, 
at Vera Cruz (where the terms were equally within control), 
drew up a sort of transcript of the guarantees that had been given 
at that place, and having signed it, delivered it to the trembling 



206 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



town council. I have not seen this paper, and cannot say, there- 
fore, whether it bore the form of a capitulation or not ; but this 
is entirely immaterial, as it is the thing, and not the form of the 
thing, that is to be regarded. To this proceeding (which was 
nothing more or less than the carrying out of General Scott's own 
policy of granting protection to religion, life, and property, and 
of conciliating, as far as practicable, the unarmed citizens of the 
country), the captious military objection was taken, that it was a 
capitulation. That it was productive of great benefits, no one 
can deny, as it gave a confidence and a sense of security to the 
Pueblans, which they would not otherwise have felt. It arrayed 
at once the better classes of citizens on the side of order, and en- 
abled General Worth, with his handful of bold men, to govern in 
peace and quiet, a turbulent multitude of seventy thousand souls ! 
This was surely better than to have entered, sword in hand, amid 
a general distrust and fear, which might have been productive of 
calamitous results, if not to the victors, to the vanquished. The 
great mass of the population was already disposed to look upon 
us as a horde of blood-thirsty savages, waiting but for an oppor- 
tunity, to commit all sorts of excesses ; and it was therefore as hu- 
mane, as politic, to undeceive them beforehand, and to assure them 
that we were a civilized people, carrying on a civilized warfare, in 
which we recognized the validitv of the rights of religion, life, and 
property. Any narrow, military reasoning based upon technicali- 
ties, which could be brought in opposition to this liberal and en- 
lightened policy pursued by General Worth, was unworthy of the 
comander-in-chief of a great army. The reader is, no doubt, aston- 
ished to find so trivial a cause lying at the foundation of the difficul- 
ties which subsequently arose between these two great men. But 
trifling as this cause was, it was dwelt upon with harshness by 
the commander-in-chief ; and his subordinate, and hitherto friend, 
was chided, in no measured terms, for his military mistake. Gene- 
ral Worth, with the sensitiveness of a gallant soldier and a high- 
minded man, conscious of the rectitude of his motives, and of the 
soundness of his judgment, defended himself with earnestness, 
but in vain. His chief was unappeasable ; and from that moment 
a schism was commenced which was never afterward healed. — 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



207 



There is one lesson which it is extremely difficult for a military 
man to learn, and that is, the necessity of treating those who have 
been his subordinates, but who have risen to the same rank with 
himself, with becoming consideration and respect. Major- Gene- 
ral Scott, seemingly, could not realize the fact that his former aid- 
de-camp, was now fifty-five years of age, and, like himself, a 
major-general in the army of the United States. 



CHAPTER X . 



M iRCH of the arm j upon the city of Mexico — General Twiggs the first to 
move — Is followed by General Quitman — March of General "Worth — En- 
campment at Rio Prieto — San Martin — Pass the volcanoes of Puebla — Ar- 
rive at the Rio Frio — Summit-level of the mountains of Anahuac and 
first view of the valley of Mexico — Description of the valley — The an- 
cient Tenochtitlan and the Aztecs — Its capture by Cortez — Bernal Diaz' 
account of some of the wonders of the ancient city — Spots rendered fa- 
mous by the siege of Cortez, identified — Description of the march of Cor- 
tez, upon his first entry into the city of Mexico. 

General Scott's order of march, which was promulgated on 
the 6 th of August, consisted in pushing forward his army by divi- 
sions, with an interval of twenty-four hours between them ; which 
was a very good order of march for Mexico, but would have sub- 
jected him, in almost any other country, to have had his divisions 
beaten in detail. But the general knew his enemy, and was jus- 
tified, in a little disregard of tactics. The whole city of Puebla 
had been in a ferment for several days ; aids-de-camp and order- 
lies were dashing about in all directions through the streets, and 
the sound of busy preparation was heard in all the camps. Gene- 
ral Twiggs, in command of the second division of regulars, was 
assigned the post of honor on this occasion. He marched on the 
morning of the 7th, a little after sunrise ; the whole population 
turning out to witness his departure. We had delayed so long in 
Puebla that the good people began to doubt our ability, or our 
courage, to march upon the " great city," at all. Their doubts 
were now set aside. The gallant old hero of Cerro Gordo drew 
up his veterans — some twenty-five hundred strong — in the grand 
plaza, in front of the government house ; and when all was ready, 
instead of addressing them, as a more windy general might have 
done, w^ith much more effect, he took off his hat, and waving it 
round his head — his white locks giving him the appearance of 
some inspired old patriarch — shouted forth in the voice of a 
(208) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



209 



Stentor : "Now, my lads, give them a Cerro Gordo shout !" A 
simultaneous hurra ! rose on the morning air, from twenty-five 
hundred brazen throats, that shook the walls of the palace, and 
must have given a death-blow to the hopes of any Mexican pa- 
triots who were looking on. The cry was joined in and prolonged 
by the by-standers of other corps, and before its echoes had died 
away, the division, with its bands playing and banners flying, was 
in motion. It was, indeed, a thrilling spectacle to behold this 
vanguard of the American army thus moving on to the conquest 
of Mexico. 

On the next day, the 8th, General Quitman, who commanded 
the 4th division — volunteers — marched. The battalion of ma- 
rines, under Colonel Watson, had been assigned to this division, 
and was decidedly the finest looking corps the gallant Mississip- 
pian had under his command. 

August 9th. This morning, General Worth moved. We were 
astir at an early hour, at "head-quarters/' where the servants 
and orderlies, before daylight, had been running hither and thither, 
packing trunks, and stowing baggage-wagons ; and very soon the 
rumbling of artillery in the streets, and the heavy tramp of infan- 
try, showed that our forces were marshaling in front of the gene- 
ral's quarters, to await his commands. We were in the saddle, 
after a hasty breakfast, at seven o'clock ; and although two divi- 
sions had preceded us, and the curiosity of the towns-people, to 
witness the march, might be supposed to be somewhat allayed, we 
could scarcely move for the dense crowd in the streets. The first 
division was the Pueblan division, par excellence, it having made 
the acquaintance of the inhabitants two weeks before the other 
divisions arrived, and touched their imaginations by the insouciant 
nap it had taken in the grand plaza ; the inhabitants had there- 
fore turned out in great numbers to see it depart, and manv were 
the apparently, cordial leave-takings between them and the soldiery. 
The morning was bright ; and as we passed out at the garita de 
Mexico, into the open plain, all nature seemed arrayed in the 
sweetest smiles of summer — the rains had now fertilized the 
earth — presenting to our enchanted view, green waving fields, 
and richly-carpeted meadows, over which were wafted on the 
morning air, the dewy fragrance of the young grass, and the 
18 



210 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



perfume of shrub, and flower. The roads were firm and dry — it 
had not rained for several days — and the unclouded crest of the 
Malinche promised us good weather for our first day's march. — 
We arrived at the Rio Prieto, about one o'clock, p. m., a distance 
of ten miles from Puebla, and encamped, according to the general 
programme, for the night. Malinche kept his promise, and sent 
us no rain ; which was highly favorable to us, as many of the 
troops were without tents, and there were no quarters for them at 
the rio. 

We breakfasted, the next morning, by candle-light, at five 
o'clock, and were in the saddle punctually at seven — the hour 
prescribed over night. The morning, unlike that of yesterday, 
was cool and autumn-like, the sky being overcast with dull, gray 
clouds. We arrived at San Martin, at two o'clock, p. m., a dis- 
tance of ten or eleven miles farther, having halted frequently to 
rest the infantry. Although the distance was short, the march 
was an harassing one — the road being exceedingly dusty, and the 
sun toward noon having burst through the canopy of clouds which 
concealed him, and brought us scorching summer in exchange for 
dreary autumn. As we were now in a village of some size, in 
which centered several different roads, affording an enterprising 
enemy facilities for attack, it became necessary to pay some atten- 
tion to military precautions. The light artillery was therefore 
placed in the plaza, with the light battalion of infantry quartered 
near, as a covering force, and the remaining regiments lodged 
in streets debouching upon the plaza. A drizzling rain set 
in, toward night, but everybody being snugly housed, it gave us 
no inconvenience. 

August 11. Another cool, autumn-looking, cloudy morning. 
We were astir as usual before daylight ; partook of a hasty break- 
fast, by candle-light, and were in the saddle at six, an hour earlier 
than yesterday ; it being General Worth's intention to make a 
double march to-day, and encamp at Rio Frio. The march was 
much more agreeable than those of the two preceding days. The 
rain of last evening had laid the dust in the roads, without ren- 
dering them muddy, and we were not annoyed by the sun. Con- 
stant exclamations of delight arose from officers and men, as we 
* ound around the base of Iztaccihuatl, with its glittering canopy 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



211 



of snow, and changed, from time to time, the shape of the volcano 
of Popocatapeti. At one point in our journey, the latter pre- 
sented the figure of a truncated cone, displaying the mouth of the 
ancient crater, some three-fourths of a mile in diameter ! What 
an infernal cauldron this must have been, in the days of the acti- 
vity of this giant volcano of the Andes ! We halted for an hour, 
at the Puente Tezmolucan, to rest, and water and refresh the 
troops. From this point, the march became exceedingly toilsome 
to the infantry, incumbered with their knapsacks and muskets; 
but they climbed the steep ascent with great spirit and energy — 
they were on the way to Mexico ! We halted again, for half an 
hour, at a mountain rivulet, some five or six miles farther on, to 
water and refresh men and animals, and putting ourselves in mo- 
tion for th^ last stage of our journey, reached the Rio Frio just 
before sunset. 

A cold and drizzling rain had set in, but General Worth, 
instead of dismounting and making himself comfortable, leaving 
to subordinates the care of superintending the encampment, sat 
his horse for two long hours afterward, until every man and animal 
had been provided for. And this was his constant practice. He 
could never rest, himself, so long as anything remained to be done 
for his soldiers. There was but little shelter here for the troops, 
and many of them were without tents ; but fortunately we found 
plenty of pine wood, ready cut to our hands ; and the men having 
built themselves large camp-fires, rolled themselves in their 
blankets, and passed a tolerable night, despite the cold and the 
rain. We, of the staff, quartered ourselves on my old friend the 
German, whose acquaintance, the reader will recollect, Captain 
Kearney and myself had made some months before. He prepared 
an excellent supper for us, and brought forth from his cellar an 
extra bottle or two of old Rhenish. His young Dutch friend, 
Seymour, was equally well taken care of. 

Just before reaching the Rio Frio, while winding up a steep ascent 
of the mountain side, we passed one of those numerous monuments of 
barbarity and murder to be met with everywhere in Mexico. It 
consisted of an inscription carved in the face of the rock, and 
commemorated the death of ten soldiers, who had been sent out 
by the government to clear the roads of banditti, but who, falling 



212 



GENERAL SCOTt's CAMPAIGN 



in with a superior force of these villains, amounting to some thirty 
or forty, had all been put to death in a most barbarous manner ! 
Several strong defiles were passed by us during this day's 
march — one of the strongest of which was the Puente Tezmolucan. 
There was no possible mode of passing this stream except bv the 
bridge, and this, and the road, for some distance afcer leaving it, 
might have been so effectually commanded bv a single piece of 
artillery well served, as to have held our whole division in check. 
The Rio Frio formed another strong pass ; and Santa Anna had, 
at one time, halted here with a view to defend it, but afterward 
abandoned the idea. Some timber had been felled, and a breast- 
work partially constructed. It was a matter of constant surprise 
to us, that the enemy made no effort to arrest our march, or at 
least, to annoy us, in the numerous strongholds of the mountains 
we had passed. 

August 12. We were astir at our usual hour, and found the 
morning air keen and frosty. The ground was covered with the 
first white frost we had seen, since the opening of the campaign. 
It was just the morning for a march of infantry; but we, who 
were on horseback, although we drew on our overcoats and se- 
rapes, suffered considerably, in our ride over the mountains. The 
division was in motion about seven o'clock ; and as it wound up 
the steep and tortuous ascent from the rip, with its long files of 
infantry (whose bayonets glittered in the newly risen sun), its 
rumbling artillery, and white-tented wagons, it presented a beau- 
tiful and picturesque spectacle; independently of any romance the 
imagination might throw around it. as a second army of conquest, 
winding its way over the same heights, from which had fluttered 
the pennons of Cortez. We were now crossing the Anahuac ridge 
of the Cordilleras, the most magnificent portion of this stupendous 
range of mountains, from Cape Horn to the frozen ocean of the 
north. Peaks of extinct volcanoes, of fantastic shapes, rose 
around us, presenting their bare and jagged sides to the morning 
sun, and the clouds as they swept by in their passage from one 
plain to the other — we were on the dividing ridge between the 
plains of Puebla and Mexico — enveloped us in occasional wreaths 
of mist and fog. We had ascended to the height of 10,400 feet, 
where there was but little other vegetation than the moss, and the 



IH THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



213 



stunted fir, and whence we might look down upon the war of ele- 
ments below us. The continuity of the ascent was broken by an 
occasional plateau, forming steps, as it were, in the mountains. 
We halted on these, from time to time, to breathe the wearied 
men and animals. 

Some five miles after leaving the Rio Frio, we entered upon 
the Llano Grande, a narrow and tortuous plateau of about a mile 
in length, which forms the summit-level of the rida*e. From a 
small knoll at the farther extremity of this plateau, we caught 
our first glimpse of the great valley of Mexico ; and it was but a 
glimpse, as a dense cold fog enveloped all objects in its folds, and 
shut out from view everything but the o-eneral outline of the 
valley itself. We seemed to be looking upon an immense inland 
sea, surrounded by ranges of stupendous mountains, crested by 
snow and the clouds. We halted the column here for rest and 
refreshment, and to give all an opportunity of looking upon the 
'■promised land." The fog lifted somewhat, as we commenced 
our descent, but still the coup d'&il of the valley disappointed us ; 
not in its o-randeur and extent, for these are unequaled, but from 
the descriptions of travelers, we had been led to suppose, that we 
should be able to take in all the details of the panorama at our 
first view; which is not the case. A range of hills, running nearlv 
across the valley, obstructs the view of all the north-eastern por- 
tion of it, including the city itself; and from no one point of the 
descent, can any view be obtained which will do justice to this 
most magnificent of the world's landscapes. Those travelers, 
therefore, who have pretended to sketch it from the heights of the 
dividing ridge of Anahuac, have confounded their after inspection 
with their first view of it. 

From the summit-level to the Yenta de Cordova — hotel of Cor- 
dova — near the base of the mountain, the distance is about five 
miles. We soon caught sight of this, and of the lake and town 
of Chalco, beyond and to the left, and of the encampments of 
generals Twiggs and Quitman, on and near the main road — their 
white tents looking like mere specs in the great valley. The lat- 
ter was encamped at a hacienda called Buena Vista, near the 
point where the road branches off for Chalco ; and the former at 
Ayotla, a village a league farther on, where General Scott, who 



214 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



had accompanied General Twiggs, had established his head- 
quarters. The sight of these camps caused our hearts to beat 
quick with emotion. There lay our countrymen, numbering in 
all but about four thousand men, in the presence of all the Mexi- 
can hosts, numbering twenty-five thousand ! who had yet not 
dared to attack and destroy them, as they might easily have done, 
before General Worth or General Pillow, bringing up the rear 
divisions, could have come to the rescue. If General Santa Anna 
had been a Napoleon, the history of this campaign might have 
worn a very different aspect. As we approached, the glorious 
stripes and stars became visible, floating proudly and lazily in the 
evening breeze, over the camps of the invader, presenting the 
mind with much food for curious speculation. The Mexican tri- 
color, which had never before beheld an enemy in the great valley, 
seemed to float, equally as proudly, from the heights of the 
frowning Penon, a short distance beyond. Passing through the 
camp of General Quitman, and halting, for a moment, for hurried 
inquiry and congratulation, we diverged to the left, for Chalco, 
where we intended to encamp, agreeably to the orders of the 
general-in-chief. Passing over a sort of causeway, flanked on 
either hand by meadows and marshes, we reached our quarters 
just about sunset, after a long and weary march of twenty miles 
over a steep mountain-range. 

The usual evening rains — we had commenced our campaign in 
the midst of the rainy season — set in soon after we entered the 
town; and as we were in a hurry to shelter the troops from the 
weather, and the good citizens of Chalco were rather dilatory 
with their keys, we were obliged to resort, ex necessitate, to what 
our enemies afterward facetiously called, the Llave Grande Ameri- 
cana ; or great North American Key, to wit, a pioneer's ax. A 
blow or two with this instrument on the barred and bolted door, 
the key of which had been lost or mislaid, always brought the 
missing key in double quick time, with the deprecating exclama- 
tion of the landlord, of " espera un momento, senores, que se abra 
la puerta rnuy pronto" — wait a moment, if you please, gentlemen, 
we will open the door for you directly ! We threw out the usual 
pickets, and having taken the other necessary precautions against 
surprise, slept (not without many images crowding on the brain) 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



215 



our first sleep in the valley of Mexico ; where, alas ! many a brave 
fellow, from among us, now sleeps his last sleep. The clouds, as 
usual, all dispersed during the night, and the village of Chalco, 
seeming to be seated at the very base of Popocatapetl, smiled the 
next morning in the rays of a tropical sun, and in an atmosphere 
of peculiar and startling transparency. The snowy crags of the 
mountains were all brought forth into bold relief, and the distant 
windings of the lakes, whose shores were dotted with villages, 
were seen as distinctly as though they had been but a few miles 
away. In the early morning I wandered down to the embarca- 
dero — the landing-place — (of course, the reader knows that the 
village of Chalco is situated on the borders of the lake of the 
same name) and witnessed, for the first time, the spectacle of the 
Indians paddling about in their canoes, and bringing their rich 
freights of fruits and flowers to the market. These simple deni- 
zens of the lagoons and marshes, seemed to be scarcely aware of 
what was going on, and to be in nowise interested in the result. 
Their canoes were very small, and contained generally but a 
single person — most frequently a woman — and beside being 
deeply laden with products for the market, were fancifully deco- 
rated with flowers ; among which predominated the many-colored 
and brilliant chrysanthemum. One might have fancied a "lady 
of the lake" in each of these tiny barks, but for the expressionless 
face, tawny skin, and square, squat figure of the occupant, which 
gave a death-blow to all sentiment. 

In the afternoon of this day, General Pillow arrived, in com- 
mand of the rear division, and passing through Chalco, took up 
his quarters at a hacienda about a mile and a half beyond, en- 
camping his troops in the adjacent plains. We thus have the 
whole army, consisting of four divisions, encamped in the valley 
of Mexico. Before entering upon a description of the campaign, 
I must give the reader a short sketch of the city and valley of 
Mexico ; both of which belong now, as much to the fame of 
America, as to that of Spain. The reader will, of course, not 
only be anxious to understand the topography of the country, as 
it influenced the movements of the army, but as it is connected 
with the first great conquest, which must ever, in the eye of the 
historian, go linked, hand in hand, with the second. 



216 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



The valley of Mexico is situated in the center of the great 
Cordillera of Anahuac, on a plateau of porphyritic and basaltic 
mountains, extending from N. N. W. to S. S. E. It is of oval 
shape, and about forty-six miles long, by thirty-two miles broad. 
Its superficies, therefore, is 1472 square miles; of which about 140 
square miles are occupied by the lakes and adjacent marshes. — 
The circumference of the valley, reckoning from the crests of the 
surrounding mountains, is about 180 miles. Looking down upon 
this basin from any of the surrounding heights, the circumvallation 
of mountains appears to be complete, without outlet in any direc- 
tion. It thus presents the idea — when seen under favorable cir- 
cumstances, in all its gorgeous beauty — of a sort of terrestrial 
paradise, from which the rest of the world has been carefully ex- 
cluded by ramparts of impassable mountains ; some of whose 
peaks are crowned with snow, and appear to watch over the beau- 
tiful valley like jealous sentinels. The city of Tenocktitlan, or 
Mexico, which sits like a queen upon her throne, in the center of 
this beautiful valley, surrounded by lakes and picturesque villages, 
was originally built by the Aztecs, a race of the aborigines of our 
continent, whose remote history is but little known. Previous to 
constructing this magnificent city, they had settled, alternately, in 
many parts of the valley, and changed from place to place, to bet- 
ter their condition, or escape the persecution of their enemies. 
According to their chronicles — when discovered, they kept these 
in hieroglyphical characters, more or less resembling those of the 
Egyptians — they emigrated from Aztlan, the precise location of 
which is not known, in the year 1160, and did not reach the val- 
ley of Mexico, until after a sort of Mosaic wandering in the wil- 
derness of fifty-six years. They first made their appearance in 
the valley of Toluca, a beautiful region some thirty miles west of 
Mexico, amid the mountains. Soon afterward we find them in 
the mountains of Tepeyacac, near the modern village of Guada- 
lupe Hidalgo, the name of which is familiar to the American reader, 
from its having been the place where our treaty of peace was 
negotiated. Thence they emigrated to Cliapultepec, the same 
which was stormed by our forces, and then, a rocky island in the 
lakes ; whence they were again driven by their enemies, the Tal- 
tocans. We next find them settled on a small group of islands, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXKJO. 



217 



near the southern shores of Lake Tezcoco. Here, hemmed in by 
their enemies on all sides, and not daring to venture from their 
island-homes, they spent half a century, in the most abject poverty, 
beino* obliged to draw their sustenance chieflv from the waters, 
and to feed on aquatic plants and insects. But they were not safe 
even here. The Tezcocans made fierce war upon them, and re- 
ducing them to slavery, compelled them to remove to the main 
land. From this servitude they were released, some years after- 
ward, in consideration of important services rendered their mas- 
ters, in their wars with the neighboring tribes. They then es- 
tablished themselves in Mexicalcingo — a small town which still 
exists, some five or six miles south-east of Mexico, and which the 
enemy had converted into a fortification upon our arrival in the 
valley. These people had preserved a tradition in all their wan- 
derings, to the effect that they were to establish their final resting- 
place, and build themselves a city, on the spot where they should 
see an eagle perched on a prickly pear — which in this country 
becomes a tree — strangling a serpent in its claws. This spectacle 
they now witnessed on one of a small cluster of islands, situated E. 
N. E. of Chapultepec, and near the western shores of Lake Tezcoco. 
Soon after witnessing the happy omen, they removed to the sacred 
spot, and in the year 1325, or two centuries before its conquest 
by Cortez, they laid the foundations of the great city of Mexico. 

We can scarcely believe that in 1519, when Cortez arrived at 
Vera Cruz, this wandering tribe of savages had built themselves 
an imperial city, and established an empire, that not only included 
the whole valley of Mexico, but extended to the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Pacific ocean ! But such is the fact. Another contras: 
is still more startling. From a tribe of naked savages, groping 
among the small mud islands they inhabited, for their daily food, 
they had become a comparatively civilized people : surrounded 
not only by the comforts, but by the luxuries and refinements of 
life ; cultivating the arts and sciences, and perpetuating their his- 
tory by written records. In reading the description, by Cortez, 
of this famous city, great allowance must unquestionably be made 
for the high state of excitement under which he wrote. He saw 
-everything couleur de rose, and wrote, as all his countrymen of that 
day did, in a tone of enthusiastic exaggeration. For the same 
19 



218 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



reasons that Columbus saw spices in every shrub, and gold in 
everything that glittered, in his earlier voyages to the new world, 
Cortez beheld cities and palaces, and hosts of armed warriors, in 
every place he visited. Much of the over-wrought imagery of 
his descriptions is due, no doubt, to the warmth of his imagina- 
tion, producing in his mind an honest illusion ; but much is also 
due to the very natural desire of magnifying his prowess, and the 
importance of his services to the crown, by exaggerating the civili- 
zation and numbers of his enemies. In one of his letters to 
Charles V, he gave the following description of the ancient city 
and lakes. After speaking of the conformation of the valley, 
pretty much as I have already described it, he proceeds — "In 
one of these lakes there is fresh water, and in the other salt — the 
latter being the larger. They are partially divided by a group 
of small conical hills, of considerable height, that run nearly 
across the valley — [the same the reader has seen in his descent 
with me, from the ridge of Anahuac] — and reducing the waters 
in the point where they approach the opposite heights, to a narrow 
strait. The communication between these lakes, and the various 
cities and towns on their borders, is carried on in canoes, without 
there being any necessity to pass by land. As this great salt-lake 
ebbs and flows like the sea, its waters during the flood-tide, run 
into the fresh-water lake, and when the tide ebbs, the waters of 
the latter flow into the former. [This was a mistake of Cortez ; 
he evidently mistook the effect of the winds on some two or three 
occasions, for tides, as the closest subsequent investigations have 
shown, that there is nothing like an ebb and flow of the tide in 
these lakes — their surfaces being too small to be operated upon 
by the causes (the attraction, sometimes joint, and sometimes op- 
posite, of the sun and moon) which produce these phenomena in the 
sea.] This great city of Tenochtitlan is founded in the salt lake, 
and from the main land to the body of the city, by whatever route 
you choose to enter it, is two leagues. It has four causeways [it 
had but three — Cortez mistook the causeway leading from Cha- 
pultepec into the city, on which the aqueduct was constructed, 
but which did not touch the main land, for one], made to hand, 
each of the width of two horsemen's lances. It is as large as 
Seville and Cordova. Its principal streets are wide and straight, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



219 



and the other streets are, half of them land, and half of them 
water — canoes passing through the latter. All the streets are cut, 
from space to space, so as to allow the water to pass freely from 
one to the other ; and over all of these apertures, some of which 
are very wide, are thrown bridges, strong and of good workman- 
ship. Many of these bridges are so wide, that ten horsemen 
abreast might pass over them. The city has a great many public 
squares, where there are markets continually held, and where 
there is much trafficking in buying and selling. It has another 
great square, twice as large as that of Salamanca, surrounded by 
porticoes, where sixty thousand people assemble to buy and sell, 
and where there are collected all the goods and merchandises of 
these lands, as well of provisions, as of jewels of gold and silver, 
of lead, brass, copper, precious stones, bones, shells, conchs and 
feathers. A precious stone is sometimes sold dressed, and some- 
times in its rude state. There are also adobes, bricks and timber, 
dressed and undressed. There is a street where they sell all 
kinds of birds, such as the domestic hen, partridges, quails, doves, 
pigeons, parrots, hawks, eagles, etc. ; and of the birds of prey, 
they sell the skins dressed, with the feathers, head and claws on. 
They sell also, rabbits, hares, venison, and a kind of small dog 
which they castrate, and fatten to eat. There are apothecaries' 
shops, where they sell medicines, as well those which are taken 
internally, as ointments and plasters. There are barbers' shops, 
where they lather and shave you with obsidian razors. There are 
eating-houses, where you eat and drink for a price. There are 
men like those we call Ganapanes, in Spain, who carry burthens. 
There are quantities of wood and charcoal, and earthen brasiers, 
and many kinds of mats which they use as beds, and others of a 
fair quality, which they use to sit on, in their halls and chambers. 
There are all manner of vegetables, particularly onions and garlic, 
tomatoes, beans, peas, etc. There are fruits of various kinds, 
among which are cherries and plums like those of Spain. They 
sell honey, beeswax, and a sirup extracted from the corn-stalk, 
which is as good as that of the sugar-cane ; a sirup made of the 
maguey plant, of which also, they make sugar and wine. There 
are for sale many kinds of cotton threads, of all colors, and the 
shops where they are sold are like the silk stores of Grenada, only 



220 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



much more abundantly supplied. They sell painters' colors, in 
as great a variety as we have in Spain, and as well combined and 
mixed. They sell deer-skins, tanned and untanned, white and dyed 
of different colors. They sell great quantities of earthenware, much 
of it very good ; they sell vases and jars, large and small tiles, and 
bowls, all painted and glazed. They sell corn in grain, and in 
bread. Finally, in the said markets, they sell everything which 
is to be found in all this country — each description of merchan- 
dise being found in its particular street, without interfering with 
the rest. In this there is much order observed, and beside, they 
sell everything by tale and measure; but as yet I have seen no- 
thing sold by weight. There is, in this grand plaza, a hall of justice, 
where there are always seated some ten or a dozen persons, who 
are justices, and who decide upon all cases and things, occurring 
in the said markets, and punish the delinquents. There are, in 
the said plaza, other persons who are continually going round 
among the people, observing what is sold, and the measures that 
are used, as whether they are true or false, etc." If we add to 
the above description, that of Bernal Diaz, who, as the reader has 
been informed, was one of Cortez's captains, and who has left us 
a graphic account of the conquest, written from memory, many 
years afterward, when like the old soldier in Goldsmith, he 

" Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, 
Shouldered his crutch, and shoved hovr fields were won," 

we shall have a pretty good idea of the ancient city, or at least as 
it appeared to the excited imaginations of the conquerors. The 
old chronicler, after describing the passage of the small army — 
four hundred and fifty — over the Anahuac ridge, by the old and 
now unfrequented road between Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl — 
the same by which Mr. Rogers had reached Puebla, from Mexi- 
co — in which they encountered a snow-storm, and suffered 
intensely from the cold, goes on, in his quaint language to say: — 
" The next day we commenced to travel, and about the hour of 
late mass, arrived at a small town called Talmalanco [on the slope 
of the mountains, as you descend into the valley], where they 
received us, and gave us something to eat ; and as the news of our 
arrival had preceded us, the people came to see us from Ckalco, 
Mecameca, and Ayocingo, where were a number of canoes, this 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



221 



being one of the ports for them. They, all together, brought us 
a present of gold and two car gas [mule loads] of blankets, and 
eight Indians. The gold was worth $150 ; and they said, 
Malinche! [this was the name they gave Cortez], receive these 
presents, which we bring you, and regard us hereafter as your 
friends. Cortez received them with great love, and offered to 
help them in all their necessities ; and when he saw us all to- 
gether, he said to the Father of Mercy [Father Olmedo, the wor- 
thy chaplain of the expedition], that he ought to enlighten them, 
on matters touching our holy faith, and admonish them to abandon 
their idols ; which the good father did, saying to them, all those 
things which we were accustomed to say in the towns, through 
which we passed. To all of which they answered, th-at it was 
well said, and that they would think of it hereafter. We also 
gave them to understand the great power of our lord the empe- 
ror, and that we came among them to punish wrongs and redress 
grievances. And when they heard this, they made to us secretly 
(so that the embassadors of Montezuma, who were in our com- 
pany, should not hear them) many complaints of Montezuma — 
of the heavy taxes he imposed on them ; of the robberies that were 
committed on them, by his orders ; of the forcible abduction of their 
women and children, and how he made them carry to the great city, 
in their canoes, pine wood from the mountains, stone, lumber, corn, 
etc. [We passed through Ayocingo, the place from which these 
Indians came, on our march, around lake Chalco, and found it, 
after the lapse of more than three hundred years, precisely as the 
old chronicler describes it. There were piles of "pine wood 
from the mountains," which the Indians were carrying, " to the 
great city in their canoes and (to judge by their abject appear- 
ance) although the Montezuma of Cortez had passed away, an- 
other Montezuma had arisen to tax and oppress them, as sorely.] 
Cortez consoled them with amorous words, which he knew so well 
how to use, through 'Dona Marina, and told them to bear their 
burthens patiently for awhile, as he would soon relieve them from 
so grievous a tyranny. 

* * * * % % * * * * 
" We were about to continue our journey, when there appeared 
four embassadors, from among the principal Mexicans, sent by 



222 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

Montezuma, and they brought with them a present of gold and 
blankets, and after having paid their respects according to their 
custom, they said : c Malinche ! this present is sent to you, by our 
great lord Montezuma, who says he is very sorry for the trouble 
you have taken, to come from such distant lands to see him ; and 
that he has said to you before, that he will give you plenty of 
gold, and silver, and jewels, as tribute for your emperor, and for 
yourself and the rest of the Teules [gods] you bring with you, 
and that you should not come to the city of Mexico. He now 
again begs of you, as a favor; that you will not proceed any far- 
ther, but will return whence you came ; and he says he will send 
to the port a great quantity of gold and silver, and rich stones for 
your king ; and as for yourselves, he will give you four cargas of 
gold, and each one of your brethren one carga. He excuses you 
from entering the city of Mexico, because all his vassals are armed 
for the purpose of keeping you out.' And beside this, they told us 
that the road was very narrow, and that they had no provisions 
wherewith to supply us ; and they urged many other objections why 
we should not proceed any farther. And Cortez, with much love, 
embraced the embassadors, although he was sorry to receive the 
message they brought, and took their presents, the value of which I 
have now forgotten. As far as I saw, Montezuma always sent more 
or less gold, whenever he sent us messengers, as I have before said. 
But to return to our relation. Cortez answered them, that 1 he 
was surprised that Montezuma, having professed himself so great 
a friend, and being so great a lord, should change his mind so 
often. At one time he says one thing, and at another time, an- 
other ; that in regard to what he now says, he will give the gold 
to the emperor, which he has sent him, and as for ourselves, he 
thanks him very much for what he has sent us, and hopes to 
repay him in good works, at some future time[ ! ] ; and asks him 
whether he would think it well for us, now that we are so near 
the city, to turn back without doing what our master had com- 
manded us ? and if he, Montezuma, had sent embassadors to anv 
great lord, as he is, himself, and they should return, after having 
gone so near their journey's end. without delivering the message 
he had sent, what he would do with them when they came back ? 
That in the same manner would our emperor act ; and that we Wv?re 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



223 



determined to enter the city by some means or other ; and that, 
henceforth, it would be unnecessary for him to send him any 
more excuses on that subject, as he was determined to see him, 
himself, and deliver, in person, the messages with which he had 
been charged. And when he should have done this, if he, Mon- 
tezuma, should not think well of his farther stay in the city, he 
would return as he came ; and in regard to provisions, he said we 
were men of few necessities, and few provisions would suffice. ' — 
He then dispatched the messengers, and we continued our journey 
toward Mexico. 

" The people of Guaxocingo [Ayocingo] and Chalco had told 
us that Montezuma had consulted his chief priests and idols, as 
to our entering Mexico, and that they had all advised him to per- 
mit us to enter, as then he could the more easily put us to death. 
JSTow, as we were men, and afraid of death, we could not help 
dwelling on these things ; and as the country was very thickly 
inhabited, we made short marches, recommending ourselves, all 
the while, to our blessed Saviour, and the Holy Virgin, and dis- 
coursing of the manner in which we were to enter. We consoled 
ourselves by reflecting, that as our Lord Jesus Christ had pro- 
tected us thus far, through all our past dangers, he would con- 
tinue to watch over us, in Mexico. 

' 'We slept this night, at a small town called Iztcqicdatengo, situ- 
ated at the base of a range of hills [in the valley], half of the 
houses of which were in the water, and half on the land. Here 
we had a good supper. But let us leave this, and return to Mon- 
tezuma, who, as soon as his messengers returned, and he had 
received the answer of Cortez, sent out his nephew Guatimozin 
[afterward so distinguished as his uncle's successor] with great 
pomp to receive him, and welcome him to the city. As we had 
out pickets and videttes, according to our custom ; one of these came 
running in, to inform us, that a great number of peaceable Mexi- 
cans, all richly dressed, were on the way to our camp. This was 
early in the morning, just as we were about to set out, but Cortez 
ordered us to remain where we were, until he could see what all 
this meant. Almost at the same moment, four chiefs arrived, who 
paid great reverence to Cortez, and informed him, that Guatimo- 
zin, the great lord of Tezcoco, and nephew of Montezuma, was 



224 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



on his Tray to see him. It was not long before he arrived, com- 
ing' in much more state than we had before seen, as he was borne 
in a kind of close chair, richly carved, and adorned with green 
feathers, and gold and precious stones. [Green was the royal 
color of Mexico, and hence the green stripe worn in the present 
Mexican flag.] This chair was borne on the shoulders of eight 
of the principal lords of the surrounding towns. When they had 
arrived near to where Cortez was, these assisted their chief to de- 
scend from the chair, and swept the ground before him, picking 
even the straws out of his way. And when they arrived in the 
presence of our captain, they paid him great respect, and Guati- 
mozin said to him: ' Malinche ! these gentlemen and I come to 
offer you everything you may stand in need of, you and your 
companions, and to lodge you comfortably in our city, this being 
the command of our lord Montezuma.' "When our captain and 
all of us saw so much parade and majesty, we said to one another, 
if this cacique is so much honored, what are we to expect of the 
great Montezuma, himself? "When Guatimozin had finished 
speaking, Cortez embraced him, bestowing many caresses on him, 
and his associates, making him a present of three stones, called 
margaritas — pearls — very brilliant : and to the other chiefs he 
gave blue beads, and said that he thanked them very much for 
their kindness ; and as for Montezuma, he should never be able, 
he said, to repay him for so many services. The conversation 
ended, we immediately set out, and as these caciques had brought 
a great many attendants with them, and as all the people turned 
out from the adiacent villages to see us, the road was filled with 
them. 

The next day we reached Iztapcdapan, near the great cause wav. 
From this point, we saw a great many cities and villages, situ- 
ated in the midst of the lakes, as well as on dry land, and the 
cause way led straight to the city, being a dead level all the wav. 
[This causeway, by which Cortez first entered Mexico, is that at 
present leading from the city to the great Acapidco road, passing 
through the village of San Augustin, then known as T I dp am. — 
On it, the battle of Churubusco was fought. During the siege 
of the city, by Cortez, he operated in person — in conjunction with 
Cristobal de Olid — on this causeway; and General Worth 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



225 



encamped on the night after the battle of Churubusco, at a place 
now called Ladrillera, but which was formerly known as Xoloc> 
the head-quarters of Cortez, after he had made some progress in 
the siege. The reader thus perceives how our movements, at 
every step in the great valley, recalled to our minds the romantic 
history of Cortez and his exploits — which must be my apology 
for carrying him so much in detail over the classic ground.] We 
were truly astonished at all these things, and said, one to another : 
' This looks like a scene of enchantment, such as we read of in 
Awudis [the reader will recollect this famous romance of chiv- 
alry, which, with others, gave rise to the burlesque criticism 
of Don Quixote], with its towers, and temples, and edifices, all 
of stone, and in the midst of the waters.' Indeed some of the 
soldiers were so much surprised that they were half inclined to 
believe it all a dream. ]S"or is it to be wondered at, that I 
write in this strain, since such sights as we saw, on that occasion, 
were not only never seen before, but scarcely dreamed of. 

"As we approached Iztapalapan, we were astonished at the 
magnificence of the chiefs who came out to meet us, and among 
whom, were the lords of Coadlavaca and Coyocan, they both being 
relatives of Montezuma. And then the palaces they lodged us in 
were magnificently built of stone and lime, and cedar and other 
odoriferous woods, with large court-yards and squares, all covered 
with awnings of cotton cloth. After we had seen all these things, 
we went into the flower and vegetable gardens, and walked 
throudb them, never getting- tired of viewing the great varietv of 
odoriferous trees and shrubs, and pots filled with flowers, and of 
fruit-trees and rose bushes, and in the midst of all, a fountain. 
But the greatest sight still, was to see the canoes enter the garden, 
through a low gateway, without the necessity of the passengers 
getting out upon the land. The whole was surrounded by a wall, 
formed of many kinds of stones, fancifully painted. There were 
many water-fowl, also, in the pond. I say again, that I looked 
upon it all with wonder, and I do not believe that there ever were 
such lands as these discovered before, as it must be recollected 
that in those days, we had not yet heard of Peru. But I must 
proceed with my story, and relate how the caciques of this city 
brought Cortez a present of gold, amounting to two thousand 



226 



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dollars and more ; and for which, Cortez gave them many thanks, 
and treated them with much affection, and discoursed with them, 
through our interpreters, on the things concerning our holy faith, 
and the great power of our lord, the emperor. But as there were 
a great many other things said, I will not here relate them. 
Truly, this was a great town, in those days, one-half of the houses 
being in the water, and the other half on the land. Now all this 
is changed, and they sow seed where formerly was the lake. If 
I had not seen it, I could not believe that the lake, which we saw 
so full of water, had been converted into corn-fields. [If the 
doughty old captain could look down, now, upon Iztapalapan, he 
would be pained to perceive that the beautiful picture of it which 
he has left us, is no longer true to the original. Instead of con- 
taining ten thousand inhabitants, as it did in his day, and being- 
adorned with palaces and flower-gardens, it has dwindled to a 
small village, of a few hundred souls, who live in unsightly huts. 
It is situated near Mexicalcingo, and is in the midst of an exten- 
sive meadow, with not a drop of water within many miles of it.] 
But let us leave this subject, and proceed to relate how Montezuma 
received us all in the great city of Mexico. The next morning, 
we left Iztapalapan, accompanied by a great crowd, among which 
were the caciques I have already mentioned. We went forward 
on the causeway, which is about eight yards wide, and goes direct to 
the city of Mexico, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left. 
Although it was so wide, it was filled with people, some going in, 
and some coming out to see us. Beside which, all the temples 
and houses by the way-side were filled, and canoes crowded with 
them, surrounded the causeway. Nor was it to be wondered at, 
as they never before had seen horses or men like ourselves. As 
for our part, we knew not what to say, upon witnessing such ex- 
traordinarv sights — great cities on the land and in the water, the 
lake covered with canoes, and numerous bridges over the sluices 
in the causeway, and in front of us the great city of Mexico, 
while we amounted to but four hundred and fifty soldiers ; 
recollecting all the while the conversations we had had with our 
friends of Guaxocingo and Chalco, and the advice they had given 
us to be on our guard, to prevent Montezuma from murdering us, 
when we should get into the city. Let the reader ponder well on 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



227 



these things, and then say whether in all the universe, there has 
ever been such daring as ours ! 

" But to return — let us proceed on the causeway. We now 
arrived to where it was joined by another causeway coming from 
Coyocan, which is another city where there were temples and 
palaces, and fine houses [Coyocan is a village — dwindled to 
insignificance — which still exists, situated between Churubusco 
and Contreras. After the battle at the latter place, the enemy 
retreated and was pursued by our troops, through this place, to 
Churubusco, where another and a greater battle was fought, on 
the same day. It was at Coyocan that Cortez established his 
first head-quarters, when he undertook the siege of the city of 
Mexico. In the interval between the battle of Churubusco, and 
that of Molino del Rey, the 3d volunteer division, under General 
Pillow, was quartered in this village]. Many caciques, richly 
dressed with blankets on them, and with their dresses differently 
decorated from the others, here joined us, and filled up the cause- 
way — being sent by the great Montezuma to receive us. And 
when they had reached Cortez, they said we were welcome, and 
in token of peace, touched the ground with their hands, and then 
kissed their hands. We were now detained some time, and Guati- 
mozin, the lord of Tezcoco, the lord of Iztapalapan, the lord of 
Tacuba, and the lord of Coyocan went forward to meet Montezu- 
ma, who advanced in a rich sedan chair, accompanied by other 
great lords and caciques, all surrounded by their vassals. [The 
village of Tacuba is situated at the extremity of the causeway of 
San Cosine, over which General Worth fought his way into the 
city, on the 13th September. It was the causeway of San Cosme 
on which Pedro de Alvarado operated during the great siege, es- 
tablishing his head-quarters at Tacuba. Bernal Diaz, whom I am 
quoting, belonged to Alvarado's division. It was over this cause- 
way, also, that the celebrated flight of Cortez, on the Noche Triste, 
took place.] When we had approached very near the city, where 
there was a number of small towers, Montezuma descended from 
his sedan, and came forward, supported by his lords, under a rich 
canopy decorated with green feathers, precious stones, and gold 
and silver embroidery, and ornaments. He was most sumptuously 
attired, according to the custom of the country. He wore a sort 



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GENERAL SCOTT ? S CAMPAIGN 



of sandals on his feet, the soles of which were of gold, and the 
upper parts adorned with precious stones, and the four lords who 
supported him by the arms, were also most richly dressed after 
their fashion ; which dresses they must have put on, on the road, 
when they went forward to meet Montezuma, as they were not the 
same they had on when they left us. Other grand caciques ac- 
companied these lords, bearing canopies over their heads, and 
many others preceded Montezuma, sweeping the ground before 
him, and laying down blankets for him to tread upon. Xone of 
these lords dared look him in the face, but modestly kept their 
eyes fixed on the ground, except the four kinsmen who had him 
by the arms. When Cortez saw him approach, he alighted from 
his horse, and they mutually paid great respect to each other — 
Montezuma bidding Cortez welcome, and Cortez, through Dofia 
Marina, saying something civil in return. Cortez then took oft a 
collar from his neck, and placed it around that of Montezuma, 
making an effort to embrace him at the same time, which his at- 
tendants perceiving, prevented, lest the dignity of the great king 
should be offended. Cortez then said, that his heart was at length 
rejoiced at his beholding so great a prince, and that he regarded 
it as a great favor, his coming out to meet him in person. Monte- 
zuma, in reply, paid some other compliments, and directed his 
two nephews who had him by the arm — the lords of Tezcoco and 
Coyocan — to go with us, and see us quartered, when with his 
other two relatives — the lords of Coadlavaca and Tacuba — he 
returned to the city. Many of the chiefs, and other persons ac- 
companied him, relieving us, somewhat, of the pressure of the 
crowd, and enabling us to pass through the streets of the city 
with greater ease. But who will be able to tell the number 
of men, women and children who came out on the house- 
tops, in the streets, in doorways and canoes, near the causeway, 
to see us ? It is singular that at this moment, while I am writ- 
ing, all these things rise up as vividly before me as if they had 
happened yesterday ; and considering that our Lord Jesus Christ 
gave us grace and strength to enter such a city, and has since 
protected me from so many dangers, as will hereafter appear, I 
return him many thanks therefor. 

"But let us return to our entry into the city of Mexico, and 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



229 



relate how the) T lodged us in some grand houses, where there 
were apartments for us all ; which houses had formerly belonged 
to Axayaca, the father of Montezuma. [These houses formerly 
6tood on one side of the great Plaza, north-westward of the present 
Calle de Plateros. Their site is now occupied by a row of elegant 
houses, known as the Monte Leon buildings.] In these houses 
there were large halls and drawing rooms, all richly tapestried 
from the ceiling to the ground, and for our captain and each one 
of us, mats for beds with hangings above them — this being the 
only kind of bed they provide for any one, however great a lord 
he may be. And when we had entered into the great court, 
Montezuma, who was awaiting us, took Cortez, and conducting 

7 o 7 7 o 

him to his apartments, which were furnished with great luxury, 
according to their custom, placed a collar of shrimps of gold, of 
curious workmanship, around his neck. And when he had placed 
it, Cortez gave him many thanks. Montezuma then said, Malinche! 
you and your companions are in your own house, I will leave you 
to your rest. He then retired to his own palace, which was close 
by, and we divided the apartments among us, according to com- 
panies ; placing the artillery in a commanding position, and mak- 
ing other arrangements for being on the alert. We then dined 
sumptuously. This, our entrance into the great city of Mexico, 
was on the 8th day of November, 151 9." 



CHAPTER XI. 



Continuation of the description of the ancient Tenochtitlan — Comparison 
of the topography of the ancient, with that of the modern city — Gradual 
drying up of the lakes — The causeways — The enemy's position and plan 
of defense — The Penon and Mexicalcingo reconnoitered by the engineers, 
and General Scott's plan of attack — The reconnoissance of Chalco by 
General Worth, and its consequences — Singular scenery of the lake — Pic- 
turesque towns on its borders — Semi-barbarism of the inhabitants — Gene- 
ral Worth's letter to General Scott recommending the route by lake 
Chalco — Colonel Duncan's letter to the " Pittsburgh Post" — General 
Scott's order No. 349 — Correspondence between generals Scott and 
Worth — Arrest of the latter by the former, etc. — Secretary Marcy's letter. 

After Cortez and his companions had been several days in 
their new domicil, during which frequent visits had been ex- 
changed between them and Montezuma, they sallied forth to see 
the city. They first visited the grand plaza of Tlaltelolco, which 
has already been described in the extract I have given from Cor- 
tez's letter. The description of Bernal Diaz corresponds with 
that of his great captain, in all essentials, but is far more minute 
and diffuse. From the Plaza Tlaltelolco, they proceeded to the 
great Idol Temple, towering far above the surrounding houses. 
This temple occupied the site of the present cathedral, in the 
grand plaza of Mexico (see plate). Let us ascend to the top of 
it with the old chronicler, and take thence a bird's eye view of the 
ancient city. "And then we left the grand plaza Tlaltelolco with- 
out staying to see more of it, and went to the court and inclosure, 
where was situated the grand Cu [Idol Temple]. Before reach- 
ing this, we passed through a series of patios, or courts, all of 
which together, were larger than the square of Salamanca, and 
were surrounded by two walls of stone and lime. The large 
square, m which the temple itself was situated, was paved with 
smooth white tiles, and those parts, that were not paved in this 
manner, were covered with a kind of brown cement ; the whole 
(230) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



231 



swept so clean that not even a straw was to be seen. And 
when we arrived at the Cu, and before we had ascended any of 
the steps, the great Montezuma, who was on the top of it offering 
up sacrifices, sent six priests and two lords to accompany our cap- 
tain, Cortez, up. The steps were one hundred and fourteen in 
number, and as our captain, Cortez, began to ascend, these per- 
son ao-es took him by the arms, as if to assist him, as they had 
been in the habit of assisting their master, Montezuma ; but 
Cortez would not permit them to approach him. And when we 
had reached a sort of platform, on the top of the building, we 
beheld a great stone on which they placed their victims to sacri- 
fice them [now shown, among other antiquities, in the museum 
of Mexico], and a great figure as of a dragon, and many other 
figures of hideous aspect ; and we could see, that there had been 
much blood shed on that same day. When we arrived, the great 
Montezuma came forth from one of the chapels, and with him two 
priests, and saluting Cortez with much respect, he said, 'you 
must be tired, Malinche! after ascending our great temple;' 
whereupon, Cortez replied to him, through the interpreter, that 
'neither he, nor any of his companions were ever tired by any- 
thing.' Montezuma then took him by the hand, and requested 
him to look forth upon his great city, and the other cities and 
towns that surrounded it, as well in the water as on the land, and 
said to him, if he had not seen his grand plaza Tlaltelolco, he 
would have a fine view of it from this place. And so we took a 
review of everything, for that accursed temple was so high, that it 
commanded a fine prospect of all the country around. We saw 
the three causeways, that led into the city — that of Iztapalapan, 
by which we had entered, that of Tacuba, by which we fled from 
the city on the Noche IViste, eight months afterward, and that of 
Tapeyac [Guadalupe Hidalgo]. And we saw the fresh water 
brought in aqueducts from Chapultepec, for the supply of the 
city [Mexico was situated in the salt lake of Tezcoco], and the 
numerous bridges over the cuts in the causeways, through which 
the water passed from one part to the other of the lake. A great 
multitude of canoes, some coming to and some going from the 
city, all laden with the products of the surrounding country, 
covered the lake. And we saw that they passed from house to 



232 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



house in the great city, as well as in the other cities of the lakes, 
by means of drawbridges and canoes. And we saw in these 
cities numerous temples and adoratories, built after the manner 
of fortifications, and all neatly whitewashed ; and flat-roof houses, 
and other small temples and adoratories, looking like so many 
fortifications, on the causeways. And after we had well viewed 
and considered all this, we turned toward the great plaza, which 
we could see filled with a multitude of people, some buying and 
others selling ; and such were the bustle and hum of human 
voices, that we could hear them more than a league off. Among 
us there were soldiers who had been in many parts of the world, 
in Constantinople, and through Italy and Rome, and they said that 
this plaza surpassed all they had seen, in its size, the multitude 
of its people, and the good order and arrangement of everything. 

" But let us return to our captain, who said to Father Olmedo, 
' it appears to me, father, that this would be a good time to jog 
Montezuma, about his permitting us to build our church here 
but the good father replied, that although it would be well, if we 
could obtain permission, he thought it better not to mention it at 
present, as Montezuma did not appear to be in the humor of 
granting it just now." 

I have thus summoned Cortez, and his faithful old follower, to 
give the reader a coup d'oeil of the city of Mexico, and the sur- 
rounding topography, as they existed in their day. Let us now 
briefly glance at the changes three hundred and thirty years have 
wrought in the pictures they have presented. The villages of 
Iztapalapan, Coyocan, Tacubaya, Tacuba, and Tepeyac extending 
from a point south-east of the city, to one north of it, were all on 
the margin of lake Tezcoco, in 1520, and there was an uninter- 
rupted water communication between them and the city, and from 
one to the other, through the causeways. The lake has now, not 
only dried up between these and the city, but has receded a league 
beyond, thus leaving the city on dry land, and no longer in the 
midst of the lake, as formerly. The modern city occupies pre- 
cisely the -same position that the old one did, though it is a good 
deal diminished in size. The same causeways — now merely roads 
raised somewhat above the surrounding meadows, and marshy 
land — enter it at the same points — there having been two others 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



233 



added ; the streets run in the same direction, and the four original 
wards — four others having been formed out of them — bear the 
same names. The great plaza of Tlaltelolco, adjacent to the 
causeway of Tacuba, or San Cosme, is now a heap of ruins, and 
forms a suburb of the city, inhabited by the poorer classes of the 
population, who live in miserable huts, constructed partly of the 
ancient ruins, and partly of adobes. The sluice through this 
causeway, over which, when the bridge was destroyed, Alvarado 
is said to have made his famous leap on the noche triste, has long- 
since been filled up, and even the knowledge of its precise locality 
lost. A church now stands near the site, so far as the latter can 
be identified. 

There are five lakes in the valley, Tezcoco, in which the city 
formerly stood, Xochimilco, Chalco, San Cristobal, and Zum- 
pango. These lakes receive all the waters from the surrounding 
Cordilleras, and have no natural outlets ; notwithstanding which, 
we have seen from the testimony of Bernal Diaz, when speaking 
of Iztapalapan, that they had begun to recede even in the days 
of Cortez. We have other proofs of this, too, in the Indian chro- 
nicles of the time, as we learn from these, that after a succession 
of dry years — immediately preceding the conquest — there was so 
great a scarcity of water in the canals, as greatly to impede their 
navigation, and that to remedy the evil, it had become necessary 
to construct an aqueduct, to convey water into the citv, to feed 
them, from the neighboring village of Coyocan. That portion 
of the lake of Tezcoco between the causeway of Iztapalapan (now 
of San Augustin) and that of Tacuba, or San Cosme, was always 
the most shallow, as Cortez, when speaking in one of his letters, 
of his operations during the siege, complains that although he had 
cut sluices in the causeway, to permit his brigantines to pass 
freely, he could not approach the city with them in this direction, 
in consequence of the numerous bars and shallows. Accordingly, 
this was the first part of the lake to dry up, as we have seen. As 
the waters receded, the grounds were ditched, and the Indians 
laid them out in gardens, which they called Chinampas, after the 
floating gardens, many of which still existed, in the days of Cor- 
tez ; but they have all since disappeared. After the conquest, 
the recession of the waters, which had been slowly going on for 
20 



234 



GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



centuries previously, became more rapid from artificial causes. 
The clearing and cultivation of the soil, as well in the valley as 
on the mountain slopes, caused increased evaporation, and an 
additional deposit of detritus or alluvion ; and as the bottoms of 
the lakes became exposed, they were drained and ditched as al- 
ready described. Lake Tezcoco diminished more rapidly than 
Xochimilco and Chalco ; the two latter being supplied more or 
less by small fountains in their vicinity, even in the driest seasons, 
while the former was dependent, almost entirely, upon the tor- 
rents that rushed down the mountain sides, in the season of rains. 
Notwithstanding this gradual diminution of the waters, however, 
the ancient city of Mexico was subject to frequent inundations; 
and when it was destroyed by Cortez — the destruction during the 
siege was almost entire — this chieftain encamped, for some time, 
with his army, in the neighboring village of Coyocan, debating 
with himself whether he would rebuild it on its ancient site, or 
remove it to the adjacent heights between Tacubaya (near Cha- 
pultepec) and Tacuba. He finally decided in favor of the ancient 
site endeared to him by so many romantic associations, and con- 
secrated by the blood and toil of his companions. What had cost 
him so much labor and anxiety to win, he was loth to abandon, 
and in his visions of the future, he could not avoid picturing to 
himself " La Senora de todas estas provincias" — the queen-city of 
all these provinces — rising like a Phoenix from the ashes of the 
famous Tenochtitlan. So far, at least, as picturesque beauty was con- 
cerned, he was unquestionably right, for the valley of Mexico, in this 
respect, has no competitor on the earth's surface. The construction 
of the new city was commenced in 1521. Between this period and 
the year 1607, it was several times inundated, and in the latter year 
it was submerged deeper than it had ever been before, causing 
great destruction of life and property. These periodical overflows 
had scarcely been regarded by the Indians, as the old city was 
crossed in every direction by canals, and their ordinary traffic 
was carried on in canoes. Their houses, too, being constructed, 
for the most part, on piles, the only inconvenience they suffered 
was the necessity of betaking themselves for awhile to the upper 
stories. It was a very different case with the Spaniards, however. 
In their day, the communication between the different parts of the 



Itf THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



235 



city was no longer oy water. Cortez, in prosecuting the siege, 
had found it necessary, so obstinate was the resistance, to level 
the houses with the ground as he advanced, and with their ma- 
terials to fill up the canals, so as to give himself a firm footing for 
his cavalry and artillery. The new city was built upon this arti- 
ficial level, the communication by streets taking the place of that 
by canals. Hence, when an inundation occurred, it confined the 
inhabitants to their houses, and put an end, for the time being, to 
all the commerce of the city. So seriously were these inconve- 
niences felt, in the great inundation of 1607, that Philip III, issued 
an edict to remove the city to the heights on which Cortez had 
contemplated founding it. This edict was annulled, however, at 
the instance of the municipality of the city, who represented to 
their sovereign that a destruction of property to the value of 
twenty-one millions would be the consequence. Attention was 
now paid to draining the lakes, as a substitute for the old system 
of dikes and embankments, which had been found insufficient to 
guard against the periodical overflows. The Grand Plaza of 
Mexico is elevated about forty-eight inches above the level of 
Lake Tezcoco. The level of San Cristobal is one hundred and 
fifty-two inches above that of Tezcoco, and consequently one 
hundred and four inches above that of the Plaza of Mexico ; and 
the elevation of Lake Zumpango is still greater. The process of 
inundation is as follows : In seasons of extraordinary rains, Lake 
Zumpango becomes swollen by the torrents which empty into it, 
and discharges its surplus waters into San Cristobal. The waters 
of San Cristobal, in turn, overflow the dikes and embankments, 
which separate them from Lake Tezcoco; and the latter, receiving 
thus, all the surplus water of two lakes, inundates the city — a 
rise of anything over four feet being sufficient for this purpose. 
The meadows of San Lazaro, east, and northeast of the city, 
being the lowest, are the first to be submerged. The river Gua- 
titlan being the principal cause of the overflow of Lake Zumpango, 
it became evident that if the waters of this stream could be di- 
verted, the whole evil would be remedied. But this it was diffi- 
cult to do, as the whole valley was surrounded by mountain- 
ranges of more or less elevation, the gorges winding through 
which, were vastly elevated above the bed of this river. An 



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GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



accurate and diligent survey proved that nothing short of a tunnel, 
through which a canal should pass, would effect the object. Gi- 
gantic as this operation appeared, it was undertaken, and what is 
truly astonishing, was completed in two years — fifteen thousand 
Indians having been constantly employed upon it ! This tunnel 
and canal — called the Desague — drain — of Huehuetoca — answer 
their purpose perfectly ; and there is no longer any danger to be 
apprehended, from the fullness of the lakes. The waters of the 
Guatitlan are turned into the river Tula, on the other side of the 
valley of Mexico ; these in turn flow into the Panuco, and the Panu- 
co discharges itself into the gulf of Mexico ; so that the desague 
of Huehuetoca has connected the waters of the romantic lakes of 
the valley of Mexico, with the great Atlantic ocean, where, ming- 
ling with our waters of the Mississippi valley, they perform the 
circuit of the world together. It thus appears, that the modern 
city of Mexico, which we are about to assault, is situated in a 
meadow, some three miles distant from the shores of the nearest 
lake. 

When General Scott arrived at Ayotla, he found himself sud- 
denly checked by the enemy's outer line of fortified posts ; the 
Penon and Mexicalcingo bearding him in front. The Penon is 
an abrupt, isolated hill, situated on the causeway, over which 
the main road from Puebla and Vera Cruz, passes to the city. It 
is inaccessible on one side, and on the other was defended by 
several tier of bristling cannon, rising one above the other, and 
by breastworks and ditches. It commanded the road by an enfi- 
lading fire, for a lono- distance, and there were no other means of 
approaching it ; the meadows on either side of the road, being 
partially submerged in water, and mucky and boggy. Mexical- 
cingo, to the left — our left — of the Penon, is some four or five 
miles nearer the city than this fortification, and stands at the head 
of a short and narrow causeway, that debouches into the cause- 
way of San Augustin, a short distance in the rear of Churubusco, 
and which it commanded in like manner by an enfilading fire. 
There was no passing between these two causeways, the ground 
being more or less a marsh ; nor between the Penon and Lake 
Tezcoco on the one hand, or Mexicalcingo and the lakes Chalco 
and Xochimilco, on the other, for the same reason. It was neces- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 237 

sary, therefore, either to carry the Penon or Mexicalcingo, by a 
front attack, or seek some route to the city, by the east, around 
lake Tezcoco, or by the west, around lake Chalco. To determine 
which of these things was best to be done, the engineers were 
employed several days in making active and minute reconnois- 
sances. In the meantime, General Santa Anna, having held a 
council of war in Guadalupe Hidalgo, at which all his general 
officers attended, decided upon his plan of defense ; which was to 
offer and accept no battle in the field, but to make the campaign 
one of fortified posts. He was informed, as early as the 8th of 
August, two days before the arrival of General Scott in the valley, 
of the intention of this officer to concentrate his forces at Ayotla ; 
and having dispatched General Valencia, with four or five thou- 
sand horse, to the village of Tezcoco, he took up his own quarters 
at the Penon on the evening of the 9th. The road leading round 
lake Tezcoco, by the east, to Guadalupe Hidalgo, was to form the 
line of General Valencia's operations — Guadalupe Hidalgo to 
be his base, upon which he was to fall back if necessary. This 
general was directed, in the event of our attacking the Peiion, or 
Mexicalcingo, which Santa Anna seemed to think highly probable, 
to annoy our right flank, and in the event of our being repulsed, 
to follow up our rear, and endeavor to effect our destruction. At 
the same time, General Alvarez — commanding a body of wild 
Indian lanceros, from the south — was directed, when the rearmost 
of our divisions — Pillow's — should come up, to take post at or 
near the Rio Frio, so as to cut off any retreat we might attempt 
upon Puebla. In all these dispositions, General Santa Anna dis- 
played the abilities of a great general ; and if he had added to 
these, the prestige of personal courage, in which he seems on 
many occasions to have been deficient, and been supported pro- 
perly by his officers and men, I should probably have a very dif- 
ferent story to record. The reconnoissances of our engineers 
showed, as I have stated, that there was no passing to the city of 
Mexico, between lakes Tezcoco, and Chalco, or Xochimilco, ex- 
cept by the causeways of the Penon and Mexicalcingo, and that 
both of these works were of formidable strength. There were 
fifty-one pieces of artillery mounted on the Penon, and five batte- 
ries, of two or three guns each, at Mexicalcingo. These works 



238 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



were not pronounced impracticable, but it was agreed on all 
hands, that they could not be carried without great loss ; and 
when carried, it mattered not which we might select for the 
attack, we should still be far from the city, on a narrow causeway 
flanked by marshes, and easily susceptible of defense. The 
Peflon being regarded as much the more formidable of the two, 
General Scott early abandoned all idea of assaulting that point, 
but continued to push his reconnoissances in the direction of Mexi- 
calcingo, evidently with the intention of trying his fortune in that 
quarter. The design of flanking the enemy by the right, by tak- 
ing the road around Tezcoco, on which General Valencia was 
posted, and which Santa Anna, in his orders to this officer, seems 
to have supposed possible — the road being quite practicable — was 
not once entertained. It would have required us to march thirty 
miles and more, to reach Guadalupe Hidalgo, by this route ; and 
it was not known, accurately, what was the nature of the enemy's 
defenses, in that quarter. At Guadalupe Hidalgo, we should 
have been met, too, by another causeway, over which it would 
have been necessary for us to fight our way into the city. 

The western route, by way of Chalco, General Scott had fre- 
quently spoken of before leaving Puebla, as the most desirable, 
should it prove practicable. Indeed, it was only necessary to cast 
a glance at the map, and at the enemy's works, to be convinced 
of this ; but strangely enough, this route, after our arrival in the 
valley, seemed to have been abandoned as impracticable. I wish 
the reader to pay particular attention to the statements which fol- 
low, as grave circumstances afterward grew out of them. The 
engineers, at head-quarters, had examined, both at Puebla, and 
after our arrival in the valley, numerous travelers and other per- 
sons, as well foreigners as natives, as to the nature of this route ; 
and the testimony had uniformly been, that it was not passable, 
for artillery and wagons, and scarcely for cavalry. Paid spies 
were sent over it, who reported the same thing. General Scott 
arrived in the valley, on the 10th, and the reconnoissances of the 
next two days were sufficient to show him, the many difficulties 
which beset him in front, and the necessity there was for flanking 
the enemy, either by the right or the left. Still, so completely con- 
vinced did he and his engineers appear to be, of the hopelessness 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



239 



of any attempt to pass by the denounced route, to the south and 
west of Chalco, that no reconnoissance was ever attempted to be 
pushed in that direction. I lay stress upon this circumstance, for 
afterward, when victory had gloriously crowned our standard, it 
was claimed by General Scott's friends, that he had all along in- 
tended to move his army over this route, and that therefore the 
credit of the movement was entirely his own. "When, for several 
successive days, we see the engineers at head-quarters, making 
diligent reconnoissances in the neighborhood of Mexicalcingo, and 
neglecting entirely the route by Chalco, what are we to infer ? — 
The question of a direct attack or a flank movement was one of 
life and death with us ; the triumph or failure of the campaign, 
in all probability, depended upon it. This being the case, does it 
comport with common sense to suppose, that the general-in-chief 
would fail to reconnoiter, by his own engineers, the route which 
he " all along " had intended to take ? And does it not strike 
the military reader as singular, that this route, from first to last, 
was never reconnoitered by any engineer at all ? Further, if 
General Scott entertained no design of attacking Mexicalcingo, 
why were his chief engineer, and all the other engineer force of 
the army, employed for four days, in reconnoitering that post ? — 
Men's intentions must be judged of from their actions, in the ab- 
sence of contrary proof ; and I have seen none rebutting this inten- 
tion on the part of the general-in-chief. 

The report at length reaching our head-quarters — still at the 
village of Chalco — that General Scott was preparing for an attack 
on Mexicalcingo, General Worth, on the morning of the 14th, 
deeply convinced of the necessity of preventing this, if possible, 
dispatched Lieutenant- Colonel Duncan, and Captain Mackall, his 
assistant adjutant-general — he had no engineer officer at his dis- 
posal — with an escort of three hundred men, picked from the 
different regiments of the division, to examine the denounced and 
abandoned route. I asked, and obtained the general's permission 
to accompany this reconnoissance. Whatever of credit there is 
attached to it, the reader perceives, of course, that no part of it 
belongs to me, since I accompanied it out of mere curiosity, and 
belonged to a branch of the service, which could not be supposed 
to be conversant with military topography. I must be excused, 



240 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



therefore, for mentioning that I accompanied it, since I merely 
make the statement for the purpose of showing, that I was an eye- 
witness of the proceedings I record, and to which much impor 
tance has been justly attached, since they changed the whole face 
of the campaign, and inscribed new glories on our banner, which, 
perhaps, but for them, would never have been achieved. The 
main road from Vera Cruz, passing by El Penon, was constructed 
in 1804. Previous to that time, the route which we were about 
to explore, had been much traveled ; but since then, it had been 
almost entirely abandoned. It was but little known, therefore, 
by the Mexicans themselves. General Santa Anna had taken no 
precautions to defend it, or even to prevent it from being recon- 
noitered ; so far was it from his thoughts, that we should be able 
to pass over it. He had probably relied for his information, in 
regard to it, upon ignorant countrymen, or chance travelers, as 
General Scott's engineers had done. 

Col. Mcintosh's regiment of infantry was moved out as far as 
Ayocingo to support us, in the event of our being obliged to fall 
back. The morning was beautiful, as usual, and although, like 
our old friend, Bernal Diaz, we could not but be mindful of the 
hazardous nature of the expedition in which we were embarked, 
we soon ceased to regard ourselves, in the contemplation of the 
landscape by which we were surrounded. This is the most novel 
and interesting part of the great valley, and romantic historical 
associations arose at every step, to consecrate, as it were, the 
loveliness of nature. For the first four miles, to Ayocingo — the 
same Ayocingo whose embassadors had complained to Cortez, of 
the oppressions of Montezuma — our road lay through immense 
corn-fields, covering many acres of the level and fertile valley of 
Chalco. Ayocingo is a small village, containing some 1200 
inhabitants, and lies picturesquely at the base of a mountain- 
range that circumscribes the western portion of the valley, and 
near the borders of the lake — on the very shores of which it 
once stood. From this point, our road bent more to the west- 
ward, and followed the base of the hills that ran boldly down to 
the shores of the lake. Lake Chalco, as now seen by us, was 
no longer the magnificent sheet of water surrounded by villages, 
which it had appeared to Cortez. It was little else than an 



IN TiiK YALLEi' Oi<' MEXlCu. 



241 



extensive marsh, intersected in various directions by grass-grown 
canals, and natural channels, sufficient only for the passage of small 
boats. Some three miles after leaving Ayocingo, the flat, un- 
sightly surface of the marsh is agreeably changed into what ap- 
pears to be a richly cultivated meadow. Haciendas of great 
extent, with their castellated dwellings, and church-domes and 
spires rising above, and contrasting prettily with the surrounding- 
foliage — now bearing the richest tints of green, in consequence of 
the daily rains — were seen in all directions, with their extensive 
fields of corn, and rich pasture-grounds, on which were quietly 
grazing numerous herds of cattle. These immense estates, of the 
richest bottom-lands, were separated from each other, and crossed 
and re-crossed, not by roads, but by canals, on which were seen 
the patient and laborious Indians, plying to and from the town3 
and villages in the neighborhood, and to and from the great city 
itself, in their canoes, laden with products for the markets, or with 
the supplies which they had purchased with these. Along these 
various canals, a complicated net-work of dikes had been con- 
structed, to guard against the periodical overflows of the water. 
Rows of the willow, and of the Lombardy poplar, with its tall 
and graceful cone, were planted on the banks of these dikes, 
forming avenues of great extent, and giving an air of baronial 
grandeur to the landscape. The simple Indians, who cultivate 
these estates, have, many of them, never been beyond the pre- 
cincts of their marshy homes ; and in point of intelligence and civili- 
zation, are no better than those I have already described. One 
fancies himself all the while, to be looking upon the ancient Aztecs, 
when this primitive people were groping among the islands in the 
lakes for subsistence, long prior to the foundation of Mexico. 

The inhabitants of the villages along this unfrequented road, 
beheld in us, for the first time, the terrible North Americans, who 
had been represented to them, in the proclamations of their rulers, 
as so many barbarians, marching under the banner of an Alaric, 
or an Attila, to destroy them. Most of them fled terror-stricken 
at our approach, and might have been seen on the craggy hills, 
singly, or in clusters, looking down upon us with the stupid stare 
of credulity and curiosity. Others, more bold than their com- 
panions, or surprised when too late to flv, awaited our approach 
21 



242 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



on the road-side, and were apparently much relieved to find us 
but men, who had no intention to devour them. These, their fears 
dissipated, soon manifested a friendly disposition, and gave us, 
apparently in good faith, all the information we required of them, 
concerning the road, etc., and brought us out from their huts, cool 
water, and such other simple refreshments as they had to offer. 
I even extracted rather a coquettish smile, from a pretty-looking 
damsel, when I asked her what she thought of the barbarians — 
"que tal de los barbaros? " 

We extended our reconnoissance as far as Tulancingo, some 
twelve miles from Chalco, and more than half the distance from 
the latter place to San Augustin ; the proposed base of operations 
against the city, which we were desirous to reach. In doing this, 
we passed through the small towns of Tetelco and San Juan, both 
situated on the margin of the lake, and having water communica- 
tion with the city of Mexico. Just before reaching San Juan, we 
entered an immense olive grove — the olive of commerce— the 
trees of which — laden with the green fruit — grew to an immense 
size, and interlaced their wide-spreading branches, so as to exclude 
almost entirely the rays of the sun. In these perennial shades, 
where reigned, by day, a perpetual twilight, giving one the idea 
of the druidical groves of the ancients, the natives had built 
several small towns — San Juan among the number. There were 
no "clearings" made in the grove — or rather, I should call it 
wood — for the accommodation of these villages, but the houses 
nestled, as it were, beneath and among the gigantic trees, so per- 
fectly embowered as to be invisible at the distance of a few hun- 
dred yards. The huts composing these towns were in no respect 
superior to the wigwams of our North American Indians ; an in- 
closure of wicker-work, thatched with the rank grass of the ad- 
joining lake, being their only architecture. From the center of 
each hut, arose the smoke of the fire, over which was boiled the 
frijole, or baked the tortilla. The whole scene struck me as being 
the most novel, it had ever been my lot to witness. 

The road, although "practicable/' in military phrase, both for 
artillery and wagons, was, in many places, very rough — the sierra 
or mountain range sometime running so far into the lake, as to 
have made it necessary to construct portions of the road over a 



IN THE VALLEY OE MEXICO. 



243 



bed of rock ; which, however, we found tolerably well executed 
to our hands. After reaching Tulancingo, we had passed over the 
worst part of the road ; and being fully satisfied of the practica- 
bility of the whole route, as well as agreeably astonished at our 
discovery, we returned to report progress, arriving at our head- 
quarters by 3 p. m., after having performed a march (with in- 
fantry) of twenty-four miles. I never saw men march with more 
alacrity, or manifest more enthusiasm, than did this small body 
of veterans ; they seemed positively disappointed, when they 
found themselves back in their camp, without having met an 
enemy. The unmolested manner, in which we had been permitted 
to make this important reconnoissance, can only be explained on 
the hypothesis before advanced, viz : that Santa Anna, himself, 
had been deceived as to the practicability of the route. 

General Worth was highly gratified at the success of our expe- 
dition, and so anxious was he to lay the results of it before the 
general-in-chief, that he dispatched Lieutenant- Colonel Duncan, 
notwithstanding the fatigue of his march, forthwith to general 
he ad -quarters — some ten miles distant — to make his report in 
person. It has been stated that this reconnoissance was under- 
taken by General Worth, mainly on account of a report which had 
reached us, and to which general credence was given, that Gene- 
ral Scott designed attacking Mexicalcingo. It was understood 
that his plan of operations consisted in assaulting this work, with 
the principal part of his force, while the remainder of it, com- 
posed of light troops, disembarrassed of artillery and baggage, 
should endeavor to make its way over the route we had just ex- 
plored (and which was supposed to be impracticable for the whole 
army), with the view of forming a junction, at or near San Au- 
gustin, with the main body, after the latter should have opened 
for itself a passage through Mexicalcingo. Our small army was 
thus to be divided, and subjected, in all probability, to be beaten, 
in detail. It was to prevent this, that Lieutenant- Colonel Duncan 
was now dispatched in such haste, to general head-quarters ; 
General Worth, beside charging him to make his report, in person 
to General Scott, intrusting him with a letter to this officer, mo- 
destly suggesting his own views. The general's letter was strictly 
official, all unreserved social intercourse having ceased for some 



244 



GENERAL SCOT'l's CAMPAIGN 



time, between him, and his commander-in-chief. It was as 
follows, viz : 

"Head-Quarters, 1st Div., Ckalco, Aug. 14, 1847. 

" General: — I have the honor to submit the report of Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Duncan, whom I selected to conduct an important re- 
connoissance, and to solicit for it your own particular examination; 
and in doing so, I feel assured you will kindly excuse a few sug- 
gestions. This report solves all doubts as to the practicability of 
the southern route (or that around lake Chalco), and demonstrates 
the facility of reversing the enemy's main positions, where they 
have bestowed their principal labor, and placed their principal ar- 
mament, before the latter can be shifted to the quarter in the neigh- 
borhood of Tacubaya. 2dly, that this route will give you elbow 
room, a large field of supplies, and keep your* force, numerically 
so inferior, intact — a point, it appears to my mind, of first impor- 
tance, until a paralyzing blow shall have been struck, and an im- 
portant and commanding position attained. Once with your entire 
force at San Augustin, or still better, Tacubaya, and you have the 
game in your own hands, freed from all the doubts and anxieties 
of detached and isolated corps — in a word, taking and keeping the 
initiative. Opposed to these views ; I can only imagine one of con- 
sideration, viz : that we abandon our line, and enable the enemy 
to place himself in the rear — to which I answer, that we are not 
in circumstances to entertain the question of the rear. This army 
has passed the Rubicon, and has no resource but victory, which 
in my judgment will be assured by united action. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Duncan bears this, and will be at hand, to give any fur- 
ther explanations of his reconnoissance. 

" I have the honor to be, with much respect, your ob't serv't, 

"W. J. Worth. 

"Maj. Gen. Win. Scott, com'd'r-in-chief, U. S. A., in Mexico." 

This advice of General Worth was taken, and the reader will 
perceive, as we advance, the brilliant results. But in order that 
I may dispose of this whole subject, without the necessity of again 
recurring to so unpleasant a theme, I beg permission of the reader 
to anticipate somewhat the course of events. When this recon- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO, 



245 



noissance became a matter of controversy, it was claimed that 
General Scott had ordered it ;* but beside the circumstances 
already noticed, negativing this presumption., one of the chief of 
which is, that not only no engineer was ever dispatched from 
general head-quarters in this direction, but none was detailed for 
service, in General Worth's division, until afterward, I beg the 
reader's attention, a moment, to General Worth's letter. This 
officer does not report the result of the reconnoissance which he 
had been directed to make, which would have been the usual and 
proper formula, if he had been ordered to make one, but states 
that he has the honor to submit the report of Lieutenant- Colonel 
Duncan, whom he selected to make an important reconnoissance, 
and solicits for it, the general-in-chief 's own particular examina- 
tion. And so far was he from understanding it to be General 
Scott's intention to pass his whole army over the denounced 
route, or his desire to have it reconnoitered with this view — which 
he must have understood, had he received any orders on the 
subject — that he apologizes for the suggestions he makes to this 
end. But the reader can judge of the whole context of the let- 
ter for himself, and say whether, taken in connection with all the 
antecedent circumstances, it does not establish beyond cavil, that 
General Worth made this reconnoissance on his own responsibility, 
and thus turned the whole course of the campaign. With the 
modesty that belonged to General Worth, in a peculiar degree, as 
a military man, and which shines forth so conspicuously in all his 
dispatches, as contrasted with the style of so many other dis- 
patches to which the war has given birth, he never claimed any 
merit for performing, for the army and the country, this great 
service. He scarcely ever spoke of it, and I am sure, he would 

* That General Scott gave the usual general order to General Worth (as veil 
as to other chiefs of his divisions) to reconnoiter the enemy's positions in his 
vicinity, is quite probable, but that this order (if any was given) was meant 
to point particularly at the reconnoissance of Chalco, or even to authorize 
it, no one dreamed, until its important results became manifest. There is 
no particular merit intended to be attached to the making of this reconnois- 
sance, but there was merit in conceiving the bold design of changing, if 
possible, the false strategy of the general-in-chief; and the reconnoissance 
was undertaken with this view, and had the desired effect, as stated in the 
text. 



246 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



have dismissed the subject forever from his mind, but for the 
occurrences which I am about to relate ; and which, I fain would 
draw a vail over, did I not deem it an act of common justice to 
place the facts, in their proper light, before the public, in order 
that I may contribute my mite of testimony to the future historian, 
who, when the actors themselves shall all have passed from the 
scene of their glory, shall inscribe in his country's annals the 
events of this memorable campaign. Unfortunately, it too often 
happens, that histories are mere compilations of state papers, 
giving to the events they record, the biases and prejudices of their 
authors. Histories of wars, in particular, are compiled in this 
way; and hence we read little else in these productions, than the 
views and opinions of commanding generals ; and the facts — often 
seen from an improper point of view, and sometimes with an eye 
of prejudice and dislike — which they record. Movements and 
points of strategy which have been originated, and perhaps car- 
ried out, without the knowledge of the commander-in-chief, 
in the dispatch, and in the history, have always been foreseen 
with the eye of prescience, and directed ex cathedra. These are 
generally honest illusions, but illusions which it is the duty of the 
historian to guard his readers against, if possible. After we had 
fought the battle of Churubusco, and while we were at Tacu- 
baya, Lieutenant- Colonel Duncan, in writing to a brother officer 
at Pittsburgh, gave him a description of events up to that period. 
This letter was designed to be private, but as all news from the 
army was greedily caught up by our citizens at that time, the 
colonel's friend gratified the public curiosity, by, very harmlessly 
as he thought, giving the letter to the Pittsburgh Post for publi- 
cation, the following is so much of this letter as is material to 
our present purpose, viz : 

Tacubaya, Mexico, Aug. 27, 1847. 
"The whole force, which moved from Puebla, amounted to ten 
thousand men, more or less, marching in four columns, on suc- 
cessive days, in the following order, viz : Twiggs, Quitman, Worth, 
and Pillow. In approaching the city of Mexico by the main 
highway, you go directly on to the height of El Peiion, which ia 
a strong position and excessively fortified. Before leaving Puebla, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 247 

it had been considered whether the main road could not be 
avoided, and El Penon turned, by passing around to the south 
and left of lakes Chalco and Xochimilco. The engineer officers, 
serving immediately at general head- quarters, had questioned a 
large number of persons (including spies and agents sent ex- 
pressly to examine the route), and the mass of testimony was 
entire, to the boggy, mucky, and perfectly impracticable character 
for wagons and artillery, of the road leading in that direction. It 
was, therefore, in contemplation to turn El Penon by forcing 
Mexicalcingo, although the ground was difficult, and the batteries 
known to be numerous. This route, you will observe, is to the 
north and right of these lakes. The reconnoissances of the enm- 
neers were consequently directed to this end. In the meantime, 
General Worth, whose division had been left at Chalco (while 
General Scott, with Twiggs, had gone on to Ayotla), sent Colonel 
Duncan with a large party, to examine the denounced route. 
Colonel Duncan found it just the reverse of what it had been pro- 
nounced to be ; it was firm, rocky, and quite practicable, requiring, 
to be sure, a little labor here and there. General Worth instantly 
sent Colonel Duncan, with this information, to General Scott, and 
urged the movement of the whole army to the left of lake Chalco. 
The direct attack was abandoned, and the next morning, the 
whole army was in motion." 

I should inform the reader, that this was rather a compilation, 
made from the colonel's letter, than a literal extract. The descrip- 
tion which I have given of this reconnoissance, in a previous page, 
was taken from my notes, made at the time. The reader per- 
ceives, of course, the close resemblance, if not identity of the facts, 
in that description, with those set forth by the colonel in his let- 
ter. If General Scott gave any special order to have this recon- 
noissance made, at the same time that he sent no engineer, as I 
have before said, to make it, Colonel Duncan was as ignorant of 
the fact as myself. Sometime after the publication of this letter, 
and when we had arrived in the city of Mexico, some newspapers 
were received at head-quarters, and among others, a copy of a 
Tampico paper containing the letter in question. Immediately 
upon its being brought to the notice of General Scott, this officer 
sat down and penned his famous order, No. 349, as follows, viz : 



248 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



"GENERAL ORDERS, No. 349. 
" Head -Quarters of the Army, Mexico, Nov. 12, 1847. 

"The attention of certain officers of this army is recalled to 
the foregoing regulation [a regulation prohibiting officers of the 
army from detailing in private letters, or reports, the movements 
of the army], which the general-in-chief is resolved to enforce, 
so far as it may be in his power. As yet but two echoes, from 
home, of the brilliant operations of our arms in this basin, have 
reached us — the first in a New Orleans, and the second through 
a Tampico newspaper. 

"It requires not a little charity to believe, that the principal 
heroes of the scandalous letters alluded to, did not write them, or 
specially procure them to be written ; and the intelligent can be 
at no loss in conjecturing the authors — chiefs, partisans, and pet- 
familiars. To the honor of the service, the disease — pruriency of 
fame, not earned — cannot have seized upon half a dozen officers 
(present) all of whom, it is believed, belong to the same two 
coteries. False credit may, no doubt, be obtained at home by 
such despicable self-puffings, and malignant exclusion of others ; 
but at the expense of the just esteem and consideration of all 
honorable officers who love their country, their profession, and the 
truth of history. The indignation of the great number of the 
latter class cannot fail, in the end, to bring down the conceited 
and the envious to their proper level. 

" By command of Major- General Scott. 

" H. L. Scott, A. A. A. GL" 

The reader is, no doubt, not only astonished at the keen styk 
of invective, of the foregoing grave state-paper, published in a 
recently conquered capital, and to a gallant army, but must be at 
a loss to conjecture how Colonel Duncan's simple narrative of 
facts (until then uncontested) could have produced such a storm 
of indignation ! If the facts were not true, the relation of them 
(being simply a newspaper account) could do no possible harm to 
the general-in-chief! There would be ample means at hand, 
wherewith to contradict them, and the " truth of history" would 
not be perverted. If they were true (and they have not yet been 
disproved), then, although they found their way to the public, in 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



249 



violation of an obsolete regulation of the war-department (which 
could only have been meant to apply to letters written, preceding 
or pending operations ; which letters, by falling into the enemy's 
hands, or making the operations public, might be prejudicial to 
such operations — none of which reasons applied in the present 
case), they should not have been denounced as untrue. In short, 
whether they were true or untrue, does it not strike the reader as 
somewhat out of taste, that the general-in-chief of an army, should 
already begin to write the history of his campaign, and to quarrel 
with his subordinates about newspaper accounts of it? The 
reader, upon perusing Colonel Duncan's letter, perceives, at 
once, that General Worth is the "hero" of it, and that conse- 
quently, when General Scott denounced the "hero" of this 
"scandalous" letter, he intended to, and did denounce General 
Worth ; charging this officer with, either having written the let- 
ter, or specially procured it to be written. I beg the reader to 
mark the correspondence which follows, and to note the want of 
magnanimity which it displays, on the part of the general-in-chief. 
General Worth, feeling deeply wounded, as a gentleman and an 
officer, at being charged before the whole army, and the world, 
with "despicable self-puffing," sat down and wrote the following 
temperate and respectful letter, to his commanding general. 

" Head- Quarters, 1st Div., Mexico, Nov. 13, 1847. 
"Sir: — I learn, with much astonishment, that the prevailing 
opinion in this army, points the imputations of 1 scandalous * con- 
duct, in the third, and the invocation of ' the indignation of the 
great number,' in the fourth paragraph of order 'No. 349, printed 
and issued on yesterday, to myself, as one of the officers alluded to. 
Although I cannot suppose those opinions to be correctly formed, 
nevertheless, regarding the high source from which such imputa- 
tions flow — so seriously affecting the qualities as a gentleman, the 
character and usefulness as an officer of him at whom they may 
be aimed — I feel it incumbent on me to ask, as I now do, most 
respectfully, of the frankness and sense of justice of the general- 
in-chief, whether, in any sense or degree, he condescended to 
apply, or designed to have applied, the epithets contained in that 
order, to myself ; and consequently, whether the general military 



250 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



opinion or sentiment in that matter, has taken a right or intended 
direction. I trust I shall be pardoned for pressing with urgency 
an early reply to this communication. 
"Very respectfully, etc., 

"W. J. Worth, Brev't Maj. Gen'l, Com'd'g 1st Dir. 
"Maj. Gen'l Wineield Scott, Com'd'g U. S. Army, in Mexico." 

The following is General Scott's reply : 

"Head-Quarters of the Army, Mexico, Xov. 14, 1847. 
" Sir : — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, this morn- 
ing, of your communication, dated the 13th inst., relative to 
General Orders, No. 349 ; and I am instructed by the general-in- 
chief to reply, c that the General Order, No. 349, was, as is 
pretty clearly expressed on its face, meant to apply to a letter 
signed Leonidas, in a Xew Orleans newspaper, and to the sum- 
mary of two letters given in the Washington Union, and copied 
into a Tampico paper — to the authors, aiders, and abettors of 
those letters — be they who they may.' 

" I am, very respectfully, your most ob't serv't, 

"H, L. Scott, A. A. A. G. 
" Brev't Maj. Gen'l W. J. Worth, U. S. Army." 



" Head- Quarters, 1st Div., Mexico, Xov. 14, 1847. 

" Sir : — I have had the honor to receive your letter in reply, but 
not in answer to mine of yesterday's date, handed in, this morn- 
ing. The General Order is too clearly ' expressed on its face,' 
to admit of any doubt in regard to papers, an d m public military 
opinion, in regard to jierso-ns. The object of my letter, as I en- 
deavored clearly to express, was to seek to know, distinctly, and 
with a view to further measures to protect myself, if, as is sup- 
posed, I was one of the persons referred to. Regretting this 
necessity for intrusion, I am compelled again, respectfully, to 
solicit an answer to that question. I ask it as an act of simple 
justice, which it is hoped will not be denied. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 
" W. J. Worth, Brev't Maj. Gen'l, Com'd'g 1st Div." 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



251 



" Head-Quarters of the Army, Mexico, Nov. 14, 1847. 
« Sir : — The general-in-chief desires me to reply to your note of 
this date, by saying, that he cannot be more explicit than in his 
reply through me, already given. That he has nothing to do with 
the suspicions of others, and has no positive information as to the 
authorship of the letters alluded to, in General Orders, No. 349. 
If he had valid information, he would immediately prosecute the 
parties before a general court-martial. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

"H. L. Scott, A. A. A. G. 
" Brev't Maj. Gen. W. J. Worth, U. S. Army." 



" Head-Quarters, 1st Div., Mexico, Nov. 14, 1847. 
" Sir : — It is due to official courtesy and propriety, that I ac- 
knowledge your letter, No. 2, in answer to mine of this date, and in 
doing so, and in closing this correspondence with the head-quarters 
of this army, I beg permission to say, and with regret, that I have 
received no satisfactory answer to the just and rightful inquiries, 
which I have addressed to the general-in-chief ; but, inasmuch as 
I know myself to be deeply aggrieved and wronged, it only 
remains to go by appeal, as I shall do, through the prescribed 
channels, to the constitutional commander-in-chief. The general- 
in-chief is pleased to say through you, that he has ' nothing to do 
with the suspicions of others, and that he has no positive infor- 
mation himself, as to authorship,' etc. Granted. But has not 
the manner in which the general-in-chief has been pleased to treat 
the case, established, whether designedly or not remains to be 
seen, an unequivocal public sentiment on the subject ? There are 
always enough of that peculiar and pestilential species who only 
exist upon the breath of authority, to catch up the whisperings of 
fancy, and infect a whole military community. I do not design 
to be stifled under the miasma of such, nor stricken down in my 
advanced age, without an effort to convince my friends, that I 
scorn to wear 1 honors not earned.' 

" I remain, your ob't serv't, 

" W. J. Worth," etc., etc., etc. 



252 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



c< Head- Quarters, 1st Dit. of Army in Mexico, 

November 16, 1847. 
%i To the Hon. the Secretary of War, Washington : 

" Sir : — From the arbitrary and illegal conduct — the malice and 
gross injustice practiced by the general officer, commanding-in- 
chief this army — Major- General Winfield Scott — I appeal, as is 
my right and privilege, to the constitutional commander-in-chief — 
the president of the United States. I accuse Major- General Win- 
field Scott of having acted in a manner unbecoming an officer, and 
a gentleman. He has availed himself of his position, to publish, 
by authority, to the army which he commands, and of the influ- 
ence of his station, to give the highest effect to an order, bearing- 
date, November 12th, 1847, and numbered 349 (official printed 
copy herewith), calculated and designed to cast odium and dis- 
grace upon Brevet Major- General Worth ; to bring that general 
officer into disrepute with the army, and to lessen, if not destroy, 
his just influence, and proper authority, with those officers and 
soldiers over whom he is placed in command. — That he has with- 
out inquiry or investigation, in the said order (published to the 
army and to the world), falsely charged Brevet Major- General 
Worth, with having written, caused to be written, or connived at 
the writing, a certain letter, published in the United States, and 
to which he has been pleased to apply the epithets of ' scanda- 
lous, malignant/ etc.! That he has made these statements to the 
world, giving to them the sanction of his high authority, and the 
influence of his position, while he has acknowledged that he had 
no information as to the authorship of the letter, in question ; and 
when respectfully and properly addressed upon the subject, by 
the undersigned appellant, he has declined to reply whether or 
not he intended to impute to Brevet Major- General Worth, con- 
duct which he had characterized as 'scandalous, malignant/ 
etc. — be pleased to refer to correspondence, herewith, marked 
from A to E. 

" I do not urge present action on these accusations, because of 
the inconvenience to the service, in withdrawing many officers 
from their duties ; but I do humbly and respectfully invoke the 
president's examination into the case, and such notice thereof, and 



IN THE VALLEl r OF MEXICO. 



253 



protection from the arbitrary conduct of the said general, as he 
may deem suitable. 

"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 
" W. J. Worth, Brev't Maj. Gen'l U. S. Army." 

The above appeal was written on the 16th of November, but 
not handed in to General Scott, to be forwarded — according to 
the rules of the service — until the 24th, eight days afterward ; 
General Worth retaining it with the vain hope, that reflection and 
a returning sense of justice would induce his commander-in-chief, 
to abandon the unfortunate position he had taken, and to make 
him some reparation for the grievous wrong he had done him. — 
On the same day of the date of this appeal, and consequently 
eight days before General Scott saw it, Lieutenant- Colonel Dun- 
can published in the North American, an American newspaper, 
published in the capital, the following letter, viz : 

" Mexico, November 13, 1847. 
" To the Editor of the North American. Sir : — I herewith pre- 
sent a copy of the ' Tampico letter,' characterized as * scanda- 
lous/ 'despicable/ 'malignant/ etc., in General Orders, No. 349, 
published in the American Star [another newspaper — the govern- 
ment paper, if I may so call it — which had accompanied the head- 
quarters of General Scott, in all his movements, and received the 
patronage of the public printing] of this morning. To the end 
that the true character of this letter may be known, I desire that 
you republish it in your paper [the reader has already seen so 
much of it, as was material to my purpose] ; and that none of my 
brother officers may innocently suffer for a publication so obnox- 
ious, I hereby publicly acknowledge myself to be its author. The 
substance of it, I communicated from Tacubaya, soon after the bat- 
tles, in a private letter to a friend in Pittsburgh. The statements 
in the letter, are known by very many officers in this army, to be 
true ; and I can but think that the publication of truth is less likely 
to do violence to individuals, or the service, than the suppression 
or perversion of it. Justice to General Worth (who is evidently 
one of the 'heroes' pointed at, in order No. 349), requires me 
to state, that he knew nothing whatever of my purpose to write 



254 



GENERAL SeOTl's CAMPAIGN 



the letter in question, nor that it had been written, ur. ul well m 
its way to its destination ; he never saw. nor did he know, direct- 
ly or indirectly, even the purport of one line, wor«\ or syllable of 
it, until he saw it in print ; and he is equally ignorant of niv de- 
sign to make this declaration, which I do., as I wrote the letter, 
unprompted., and on my own resj visibility. 

Very respectfully, your ob ? t serv'r. 

James Duxcan. Brev't Lieut. Co:. U. S. A. 

It is greatly to be regretted that General Scott, upon the 
perusal of the above frank and manly letter, acquitting General 
Worth of all suspicion of blame in the matter referred to, should 
not, at once, by an equally frank and magnanimous avowal of his 
entire conviction of the innocence of the latter, have relieved him 
from the oppressive weight by which he fei: himseli 1 : . . 
because of the unjust and degrading imputation which had been 
cast upon him. Had he done so. a rhivalrou; ... wo; 
been saved the humiliation of being ant u:m m in mt 

enemy's country, m the very hoax of his proudest achievement ; 
the country would have been saved :he shame of her -raliant 
warriors engaging in a personal struggle . •• er the very t :>bies. as 
it were, of their fallen foe : and the anding general himself 

saved the, perhaps, greater mortification of having his own acts 
passed, in unfavorable review, before his constitutional com- 
mander-in-chief. In giving the ab :<ve main statement to the 
public, I have been actuated by no be sire to rip up old wounds, 
or revive, unnecessarily, unpleasant recollections, I have written 
more in sorrow than in anger — sorrow that nature, in weaving her 
web of the human character, should so inexplicably have inter- 
mingled with her threads of aold. others ot a less brilliant material. 

Mr. Marcy, secretary of war. upon receipt of dispatches from 
General Scott, acquainting him with the dirhculties which had 
arisen between that officer and General Worth, addressed to the 
former, a letter, of which the following are extracts. Indepen- 
dently of the interest which attaches to this letter, as connected 
with the distinguished persons to whom it relates, it is an able ana 
valuable exposition of the military principles involved in the sub- 
ject-matter of it. Military and naval men may study, with advan- 



IK THE VALLEY OF MEXIUO. 



255 



tage, the sound maxims of law and common sense contained in 
this admirable dispatch : 

"War Department, January 13, 1848. 

"Sir: — Since I addressed you on the 14th of December, the following 
communications have been received, viz : your dispatches Nos. 30, 36, 37, 
38, and 39 ; a copy of the correspondence between yourself and Commodore 
Shubrick ; his letter of the 16th of November, and yours in reply, of the 2d 
December ; and copies of charges and specifications against Major-General 
Pillow, Brevet Major-General Worth, and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan. 

" The perusal of these communications by the president, has forced upon 
his mind the painful conviction, that there exists a state of things at the 
head-quarters of the army, which is exceedingly detrimental to the public 
service, and imperiously calls upon him to interpose in such a way as will, 
he sincerely hopes, arrest and put an end to the feuds and dissensions which 
there prevail. 

"After the fullest consideration of the subject, the president has not been 
able to give his approval to the course you have adopted toward Brevet 
Major-General Worth, and for reasons which I will briefly state, he defers, 
for the present at least, to order a court-martial for his trial, on the charge 
you have presented against him. The document shows that General Worth 
felt deeply aggrieved by your ' General Order, No. 349.' Imputations of a 
very serious character were, by that order, cast uponso?ne of the officers under 
your immediate command, and, from its peculiar phraseology, it was under- 
stood by General Worth, or others, as indicating him as one of the officers 
obnoxious to the severe censure and reproof therein contained. With this 
view of the import and object of the order, his attempt, by all proper means, 
to remove from himself the ignominy of these imputations, cannot be re- 
garded as an exceptionable course on his part. As the stroke which had, 
as he thought, deeply wounded his honor as an officer, and his character as 
a man, came from your hands, his application for redress was properly made 
to you ; but as he did not obtain such redress, as he believed, under the 
circumstances of the case, was due to him, he exercised, or attempted to ex- 
ercise the right of an appeal to superior authority. If he was actually ag- 
grieved in this matter, or believed himself to be so, he had an unquestion- 
able right to have the subject brought to the consideration of his and your 
common superior, the president of the United States. He prepared charges 
against you (for his letter of the 16th of November, to the secretary of war, 
can be viewed in no other character), and endeavored to send them through 
you, the only channel he could use without violating established regulations, 
to this common superior. For the matter contained in these charges against 
yourself, you have made a charge against him, forwarded it to the president 
and asked for his trial by a court-martial. If the course of proceeding 
which you propose in this case is sanctioned and earned out, you cannot 
but perceive that the precedent will be most fatal to the essential rights of 
all subordinate officers. If General Worth has been guilty of an offense, by 



256 



UEiS KKAL SOOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



preparing and attempting to transmit charges against you to the president, 
for wrongs and injuries alleged to have been inflicted by you on him, it 
seems to be a necessary consequence that, whatever may be the character of 
the wrongs and injuries inflicted upon subordinate officers by their superiors, 
they cannot seek redress by appeal without being involved in a military 
offense. Whatever may be the injustice they suffer, the hope of remedy by 
appeal would be illusory, and the right to appeal worse than valueless, if, 
by the mere statement of their complaint, whether in the form of charges or 
otherwise, for the action of a common superior, they would be liable to be 
arrested and tried before any investigation had been made of the truth or 
falsity of the matters therein set forth, and even before the appeal had 
reached the authority which alone could afford redress. Such a principle as 
this would, in its practical operation, subvert justice and withhold protec- 
tion from subordinate officers. If General Worth cannot make an appeal to 
the president on account of your conduct toward him, without committing 
a military offense, and certainly he cannot, if the statement of the matter of 
his complaint is an offense, it is difficult to perceive how any officer of infe- 
rior rank can carry an appeal to you or any other common superior, for in- 
justice or injury done to him by an officer of a higher rank than himself, 
(though to appeal is the exercise of an unquestionable right), without sub- 
jecting himself to a trial by a court-martial ; for every appeal which is not 
frivolous upon its face, must, in one form or another, impute to the officer 
complained of, some military offense, and, consequently, on the principle of 
your proceeding against General Worth, the appealing officer would be sub- 
ject to arrest and trial for the matter contained in his appeal. 

" As long as it is possible that a subordinate officer may suffer from a 
superior, justice, sound policy, and the good of the service, require and de- 
mand, that the avenue to redress should not be obstructed ; but obstructed 
it would be in a most effectual manner, by the course of procedure which 
you have adopted in the case of General Worth. 

"I am not unaware of the force of the considerations which maybe urged 
against allowing the unrestricted right to subordinate officers to make com- 
plaints, and to prefer charges, to a common superior, against those who have 
command over them. The right may be abused ; it may be resorted to for 
the indulgence of malicious passions, to produce dissensions in the army, 
and to impair the rightful authority of commanding officers; but its liability 
to be perverted to mischievous purposes is not a sufficient argument to prove 
that it should not be sustained, or its benefits be destroyed by the assump- 
tion, in the first place, without proof, that the right has not been exercised 
in good faith, and with justifiable motives, and then, upon that assump- 
tion, to institute proceedings for a military offense against the appealing, 
and, it may be, much injured officer, fairly seeking the redress to which he 
is entitled. But this right of appeal can rarely or never be abused with im- 
punity. The abuse of it is an offense which can and should be punished ; 
but it is quite important that the mode of punishing the abuse should not 
be such as to destroy or impair the right. To illustrate my views by the 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



very case under consideration: If it shall appear that General Worth has 
falsely and knowingly charged you with 'malice against him,' and of ' having 
acted in a manner unbecoming an officer and a gentleman toward him/ he 
has in that committed an offense for which he may and should be punished ; 
but, before investigation, it is no more to be assumed that your charges 
against him are true than his against you are so. Both law and natural jus- 
tice require that the order of events should be pursued in such cases. The 
charges which he prefers against you should be first disposed of, before pro- 
ceedings can be instituted against him for malice in preferring those charges 
or for presenting such as he did not know or believe to be well founded. 
Your charges against him go upon the ground that he is a malicious prose- 
cutor of you. It is a well established principle, that no man can be pro- 
ceeded against as a malicious prosecutor while the suit, which is alleged to 
be malicious, is pending ; that must be disposed of before a suit for mali- 
cious prosecution can be instituted. 

" In this view of the case, and it is the one the president has taken, the 
charges which General "Worth has presented against you must be disposed 
of before any proceedings can be had on that which you have presented 
against him." 



22 



CHAPTER XII. 



Continuation of the campaign — March of the army, by the way of Chalco, 
to San Augustin — Halt at San Gregorio — The Padre of the village and 
his flock — Borders of Lake Xochimilco — Division halts at Tetelco to 
reconnoiter — Enters San Augustin, the base of our new line of opera- 
tions — Concentration of our forces at San Augustin — Movements of the 
enemy — Worth takes position before San Antonio — Pillow moves in the 
direction of Contreras — Smith's great victory at this place — An interior 
view of the enemy's camp, and the spectacle of discord there witnessed. 

Having done, in the last chapter, that justice to my friend, and 
contributed that mite to the ''truth of history/' which I have 
deemed my duty to require of me, I willingly turn to a more con- 
genial subject — the continuation of the campaign. 

On the afternoon of the 15th August, the day after the recon- 
noissance was made by Colonel Duncan, which gave rise to all 
the preceding controversy, the army was put in motion. General 
Worth's division, which, with General Pillow's, had formed the 
rear of our line, by this change of strategy, now became the front, 
and was the first to march. The low black clouds, sweeping 
along the horizon — the reader must bear in mind constantly, that 
we were in the midst of the rainy season, and that it rained every 
afternoon, with scarcely an exception — threatened us, at starting, 
with a drenching shower, and caused us to draw on our serapes, 
in anticipation of a wet jacket; but fortunately the clouds rolled 
away, and dispersed without fulfilling their threats, and we per- 
formed the evening's march, not only with dry clothes, but with 
dry feet. My friend Wood, who was riding by my side, upon 
seeing this change in the weather, remarked, as he pointed to the 
retreating clouds, in a tone half in earnest and half in jest: " See 
how fortunate we are ; the clerk of the weather had evidently 
intended to regale us with his usual shower, this afternoon, until 
he heard our bugle sound the march, when, presto! change! away 
go the clouds to the mountains, to deposit upon their hoary 
(258) 



GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



259 



sides, the rains they had intended for us. Do you know, S., I 
am half inclined to be superstitious, when I review some of the 
events of this war ! To begin, there was the Rio Grande swollen 
to an extraordinary height, and at least a month earlier than 
usual, to enable us to transport troops and supplies to Camargo, 
in aid of our march and attack upon Monterey. [General Worth, 
whom Wood had accompanied during the whole war, was then, 
as the reader knows, with General Taylor, on the northern line.] 
At Yera Cruz, as you remember, the terrible northers continued 
five or six weeks later than usual, to keep back the vomito until 
we could reach the more healthy table lands ; and now, lastly, 
although we commenced our campaign in the midst of the rainy 
season, we have marched from Puebla, over dusty roads, and 
have arrived in the valley of Mexico to find the lakes but little 
swollen, and the adjacent meadows almost dry !" "I hope," said 
I, "the clerk of battles, as well as the clerk of the weather, will 
continue to keep a bright look-out for us." 

We encamped at Tetelco, after a march from Chalco, of eight 
miles — the division bivouacking in an extensive corn-field beyond, 
and the general establishing his quarters in the cabildo, or town 
house, which had nothing to offer us in the way of accommoda- 
tion, except good stabling for our horses, and walls and a dry 
roof for ourselves. We were on the very margin of the lake, 
with, of course, an abundance of water, and we were fortunate 
enough to find plenty of wood corded up on the banks — this 
being, as of yore, one of the points whence the pine wood cut in 
the mountains, is transported in fiats and canoes to the city of 
Mexico. We were astir at daylight, the next morning, as was 
our custom always when on a march, and were in the saddle at 
7 o'clock — the bugle having put the head of the column in motion 
some minutes before. The weather was very fine. The men had 
had a comfortable night's rest, and marched with great spirit and 
alacrity, unmindful of the burthen of knapsack and musket. They 
were proud 'of forming, once more, the van of the gallant little 
army — a position which they seemed to think belonged to them. 
Filing through the corn-field, in a part of which we had bivouacked, 
we entered the olive villages of San Juan and Tulancingo, which 
have already been described to the reader, and soon after passing 



260 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



through the dense grove of the latter, emerged Into ice open country 
beyond. Here, halting the troops a few moments to rest, the genera] 
and his staff ascended a small eminence on the way-side., whence 
we had our first distinct view of the domes and steeples of Mexico : 
of the villages of San Augustin and Taeubaya, and of the inter- 
vening valley, teeming with beauty and luxuriance. We 
trace, also, from this point, the windings of lakes Chalco and 
Xochimilco, and the various causeways leading to the capital, 
with their dikes fringed with long lines of the stately willow and 
mimosa. From the top of the Penon, now in our rear, still flut- 
tered the Mexican ensign, as if unaware of the great o-^me of 
strategy which was being played ; and we could distinctly make 
out, with our glasses, the lono- lines of defenses, which it had cost 
the enemy so much toil and anxiety to construct, but which were 
now become useless. Mexicalcingo was nearly abreast of us. and 
gave us as little concern as the Penon. We were violating on€ 
the exploded rules of European ::. .-tics, by leaving a fortirle 1 pest 
in our rear; but in the words of General Worth, we were not in a 
condition to " entertain the question of the rear.'' We had passe i 
the Rubicon, and it was, av.t C as ■:■■>'. cut mhU. Indeed, this whole 
doctrine of the "rear" seems to hold many clever intellects still, 
in a sort of mysterious thraldom. Where a country abounds 
evervwhere in supplies, and where, consequently, an army can 
feed and clothe itself, independently of any "base.'"' in military 
parlance, there is no rear. And then victories in front will al- 
ways open the rear. 

Moving on, we entered the village of San Gregorio. another of 
those twilight towns, situated in a dense olive grove. Here, al- 
though it was but ten o'clock in the day. we were overtaken by 
an order from the general-in-chief to halt. We should have 
reached San Augustin in four hours more, and thus, by a rapid 
march, have effected a complete surprise of the enemy. The 
cause of this order, was the appearance in our rear | Genera: Twiggs 
was bringing up the rear), of a few thousand horse — between 
two and three — under Alvarez and Canalizo. As they ap- 
proached General Twiggs, apparently with the design to cut off 
some portion of his bag^a^e train, this officer caused his battery 
of light artillery to unlimber, and deliver a few shots, which 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



261 



effectually dispersed them without any further trouble. We lost a 
day, however, by the operation. With the exception of this insig- 
nificant body of horsemen, there were no tidings of an enemy any- 
where except in our front. We parked our wagons, and bivouacked 
our men beneath the wide-spreading branches of the olive trees, 
which were so thickly interlaced over-head, as to afford compara- 
tive shelter — many of our soldiers were still without tents — against 
the usual afternoon rains. The white tops of the wagons, con- 
trasting prettily with the bright green foliage, the picketed horses 
of the cavalry, the camp-fires, around which the soldiers were busy 
with mess kettles and cooking apparatus, and the long stacks of 
arms, formed a curious picture in this quaint old olive grove, by 
the lonely and unfrequented lake side ; and the careless laugh and 
the boisterous song of the Anglo-Saxon soldier, awakened strangely 
the sleeping echoes of San Gregorio ! The general and his staff 
quartered with the Padre, whom we found a merry little fellow, 
and a sort of Caleb Quotem of the village. He was the alcalde ; 
the military and civil governor ; and as far as we could judge, 
bestowed the best of care upon his flock, many of the women and 
children of which, lived in the same house with him, and called him, 
the former, by the endearing appellation of father, and the latter, 
by the more significant one of tio — uncle. He wore a white 
linen roundabout, and broad-brim white hat, somewhat kinked 
and weather-beaten, and seemed to have an utter contempt for his 
more lugubrious clerical robes. He showed us his library, which 
consisted of his missal, a volume or two of polemics, and an 
almanac, and entered into a learned dispute with us, to prove 
that his beloved city of Mexico was the greatest city in the known 
world ! When we told him that Xew York was twice as larcre, 
and contained over four hundred thousand inhabitants, he looked 
at us with the air of a man who had been puzzled in an argument, 
in which he had been sure of victory, and was evidently half 
inclined to believe that we were quizzing him. He wished to 
know whether we would protect religion, when we entered the 
great city, and was much relieved when we told him that this was 
one of the fundamental doctrines of our institutions. The merry 
little gentleman made us an excellent host ; sent out agents and 
spies, hither and thither, through his wild domain, to gather up 



l!62 BEKERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

eggs, and inspect the condition of the hen-roosts ; and set the 
female portion of his household to work, to assist Sandy and 
Abram in preparing our dinner. He was constantly on the move, 
in the exercise of the functions of his various offices — now super- 
intending the boiling of the coffee-pot, now receiving the report 
of an urchin whom he had dispatched on a foraging expedition, 
and now in his capacity of civil and military governor, laying 
before General Worth, some complaint he had received from a 
parishioner, of a soldier's having broken into his corn-held. : 
Harney, in command of the cavalry brigade, consisting of eight 
hundred horse, reported for service in the division this evening. 
General Pillow encamped at Tulancingo, some four miles in our 
rear, and generals Quitman and Twiggs at Tetelco, some three 
miles farther. 

August 17. Morning cloudy and cool, until eight o'clock, when 
the sun shone forth and gradually dispersed the wreaths of mist 
that had hung over, and obscured the lakes, and lighted up the 
beautiful scenery of the valley. We were in motion again, at an 
early hour. Soon after leaving San Gregorio, our road skirted 
the border of the lake, or rather marsh of Xochimilco ; ledges of 
rock from the adjacent hills on our left, sometimes pushing so 
boldly into the marsh, as to dispute the passage with us. This 
morning we came upon the hrst obstruction in the road, made by 
the enemy, consisting of a ditch cut across it, and of some rocks 
which had been rolled down into it from the impending heights, 
Lieutenant Smith, with his company of pioneers, having been 
ordered to the front, set the matter to rights in about half an hour, 
and we continued our march. 

We now began to have some skirmishing : the rancheros, or 
country militia, taking position among the rocks on the neighbor- 
ing hills, and firing down upon us, a la Afexicana, from a safe 
distance for themselves, and a harmless one for us. To •'•brush 
away" these country gentlemen, we threw out Lieutenant- Colonel 
C. F. Smith's battalion of light infantry, as skirmishers. These 
picked troops ascended the steep acclivities, and bounded from 
rock to rock, with the eagerness of hunters in pursuit of _ .a. 

To carry out our hunting simile, they orcned whenever they 
put up the chase, and it was not long before their animated 



IN THE V ALLEY OF MEXICO. 



263 



shouts, resounding like a shrill war-whoop among the hills, caused 
the enemy to start up from every nook and crevice, like so many 
of the men of Roderic Dhu ; not to stand bristling in defiance how- 
ever, like the brave Gaels, but — to show how clever a Mexican is, 
at taking the back track, I now understood, for the first time, what 
was meant, in military phrase, by " brushing away" an enemy, as 
if he were so many insects. Some three miles from San Gregorio, 
we left the marshy border of the lake, and emerged into the open 
country, where we found a firm, well-beaten road. Leaving the 
town of Xochimilco, near the head of the lake of the same name, 
on our right, we passed on to Tetelco, a small village situated on 
a height, some two miles before reaching San Augustin, and from 
which we had a full view of the city of Mexico, at about the dis- 
tance of eight miles, and of the surrounding plain. Here we 
halted to rest the column, and reconnoiter. Captain Mason of 
the engineers, who afterward became so distinguished in the war, 
and who had joined us at Chalco just before marching, was 
pushed forward to examine San Augustin, preparatory to our 
taking possession of it. The gallant captain was absent about a 
couple of hours, having entered the town itself, and effectually 
reconnoitered all the grounds adjacent. There was no enemy to 
be seen. Our movement had taken him wholly by surprise. 
Indeed, we afterward learned from intercepted letters, that he 
was truly astonished to find that we had passed over a route, with 
artillery and baggage, which he had deemed scarcely practicable for 
infantry. The great problem of turning the Penon and Mexical- 
cingo, which had given us so much anxiety in the beginning of 
the campaign, was now solved. 

Immediately upon the return of Captain Mason, we put the 
division in motion, and in an hour afterward entered San Augus- 
tin, the long sought base of a new series of operations. We had 
the usual evening rain, but quarters were abundant, and we suc- 
ceeded in getting the troops under shelter, before they suffered any 
serious inconvenience. When we turned into our beds that night, 
we had the satisfaction of reflecting, that the vexations of the 
campaign were at length at an end, and that henceforth, we 
should have nothing to do but beat the enemy; which was a sort 
of plain sailing, that our fellows liked much better than marching 



264 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



and counterm arching. General Pillow encamped at Xochimilco, 
where the general-in-chief also established his head-quarters. 
Generals Quitman and Twiggs encamped still further in the rear, 
at Tuliahualco. At an early hour on the morning of the 1 8th, 
the general-in-chief had arrived in San Augustin, and his various 
divisions were concentrated in and near the village. On the 15th, 
the day on which General Worth marched from Chalco, General 
Santa Anna addressed an order to General Valencia, at Tezcoco, 
of which the following is an extract : 

"By repeated dispatches which have reached these head-quar- 
ters [Penon] it is positively known, that the enemy has concen- 
trated all his force at Chalco and its vicinity, leaving but one 
thousand men, with six pieces of artillery, at Ayotla, who are 
very soon to follow the movement of the rest of the army; and 
that the theater of war will undoubtedly be the line of San Anto- 
nio, since the enemy is about to commence his march for Tlalpam 
[San Augustin]. His excellency, the president ad, in., and 
general-in-chief, deems it necessary, therefore, to strengthen that 
point, by concentrating thither the most select portions of the 
army, with a view to a general battle. He, therefore, desires me 
to direct your excellency, to countermarch the army under your 
command, to-morrow, to Guadalupe Hidalgo, whence you will 
proceed to Coyocan, to await further orders. General Alvarez 
has been directed to occupy Ayotla, as soon as the enemy vacates 
it, and to follow the enemy's rear to Chalco, which he will occcupy 
in like manner, in order that we may have a respectable force in 
that quarter, with which to annoy him and to interrupt his 
communications with Puebla." It is seen by this order, 
that although we surprised the enemy, so far as to reach San 
Augustin before he could throw reinforcements thither, he was 
well aware of our contemplated movements, on the very day on 
which they were commenced. General Valencia made a rapid 
countermarch in obedience to his orders, and Santa Anna himself 
hastily withdrew from the Penon, and took up his quarters, alter- 
nately at Churubusco, and San Antonio. 

It is now time for us to take a rapid survey of the enemy's new 
line of defenses, and of the various positions of the opposing 
armies, before we can intelligibly describe the further movements 



LN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



265 



of the latter. San Augustin, the head-quarters of our army, 
stands at the head of the causeway to which it gives its name. 
This is the causeway before described, as leading into the great 
Acapulco highway to the Pacific ocean. It is a raised, broad, 
well-beaten track, leading still to the city, as old Bernal Diaz 
described it in his day, in a straight line, " neither turning to the 
rio-ht hand nor to the left," and over a dead-level. The distance 
from San Augustin to the city is nine miles. About two miles 
and a half from the former, the enemy had placed his first fortifi- 
cation, in a village called San Antonio ; two miles and a quarter 
farther on, he had placed a second, in a village called Churu- 
busco ; from Churubusco the road was open and free of obstruc- 
tion to the city gates. Diverging from San Augustin to the left, 
there was another road leading over broken ground, in the direc- 
tion of a village called Contreras, near which it debouched into a 
well-beaten track leading through the villages of San Angel, and 
Coyocan, either, or both, to the city of Mexico. On a height 
called Padierna, near the village of Contreras, the enemy had 
established a field-work, or intrenched camp, to obstruct our 
passage into this road. These were the only two roads leading 
from our base of operations into the city of Mexico, and the 
question presented in military science was, as to which of these 
should be taken. At ei^ht o'clock on the mornino* of the 18th, 
General Worth's division was moved forward a couple of miles 
on the causeway, and took up its position in front of San Antonio, 
the men encamping on both sides of the road. The general him- 
self established his head-quarters at a hacienda, called Coapa, a 
few hundred yards to the right. The general-in-chief now pushed 
forward reconnoitering parties, on both roads. These reconnois- 
sances proved, 1. That the enemy was posted in great strength 
at San Antonio, in our front ; his defenses consisting of an exten- 
sive field-work well supplied with heavy artillery. His right 
rested on the village and on an extensive field of lava, which had 

o 

been poured down upon the plain in ages long past, by volcanoes 
now extinct, and which extended all the way to the mountains — 
thus occupying the space between the two roads, and forming a 
barrier against the approach of cavalry and artillery. His left 
extended continuously, to the boggy and marshy ground, partially 
£3 



266 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



inundated, near the head of lake Xochimilco. To carry this work 
in front, it would be necessary to erect counter batteries, and 
storm with scaling-ladders and fascines — it being surrounded by 
a wet ditch. To turn its left flank, the reader sees, was impos- 
sible, from the nature of the ground. The bed of lava, by which 
its right flank was protected, although broken into deep chasms, 
and presenting jagged and pointed rocks of almost every conceiv- 
able shape, was practicable for infantry, but infantry alone. 
2. That the road diverging to the left, from San Augustin, 
although exceedingly rough, might, with some labor, be made 
practicable for artillery, and that the enemy's intrenched camp at 
Padierna, which commanded this road, might be carried with the 
bayonet. While Major Smith — still an invalid, but enabled to get 
out on this occasion — and Captain Mason were making the recon- 
noissance of San Antonio, an unlucky shot from the enemy's 
battery killed poor Thornton of the dragoons, of whom I had seen 
much in Puebla, and of the fine qualities of whose mind and 
heart, I had formed a high opinion. It was somewhat singular 
that the first man who was killed in the valley of Mexico, was he 
whose defeat and capture, on the Rio Grande, had been the proxi- 
mate cause of the war. Fitzwater, the faithful guide who had 
conducted Captain Kearney and myself to the Rio Frio, was 
stunned, and lost an eye by the same shot. Captain Kearney and 
Lieutenant Colonel Graham, who covered the reconnoissance 
made by Captain Lee in the other direction, had a handsome little 
skirmish with the enemy, in which they killed and wounded some 
five or six, and made prisoners of as many more. 

After nightfall, I rode in with General Worth, to General Scott's 
head-quarters, where, after the reconnoissances of the day, the 
various chiefs, and officers were assembled to make their reports, 
and consult upon the modus operandi. The army of General 
Scott was full of talent ; and the general had the judgment and 
tact to employ it all in the best manner possible. On the pre- 
sent occasion, beginning with the senior engineer, he called upon 
each officer, separately, to give an account of what he had done 
during the day ; to state the number and force of the enemy, at 
the particular point reconnoitered by him, the manner of approach- 
ing this point, etc. In this way, he not only elicited the informa- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



267 



tion, but the opinions of his various subordinates, in order that he 
might the more intelligently combine the whole, and draw his 
own conclusions. He rarely made an examination of the enemy's 
position, in person, but with perfect confidence was content to see 
and hear, with the eyes and ears of his subordinates. Ably sus- 
tained as he was, by active and zealous young men, of fine capa- 
cities and thorough military educations, I attribute much of the 
success which attended the campaign, to this wise policy. He 
was the chief administrator, as it were, of his great army. He 
fed it, clothed it, kept it together, directed its general movements, 
but had the good sense to leave movements of a subordinate cha- 
racter to his generals of division, chiefs of brigade, etc. Among 
the most prominent of the engineers, were Captain Lee, and Cap- 
tain Mason — the former serving at General Scott's head-quarters, 
and the latter at those of General Worth. The services of Cap- 
tain Lee were invaluable to his chief. Endowed with a mind 
which has no superior in his corps, and possessing great energy 
of character, he examined, counseled, and advised, with a judg- 
ment, tact, and discretion worthy of all praise. His talent for 
topography was peculiar, and he seemed to receive impressions 
intuitively, which it cost other men much labor to acquire. — 
Mason, though a very young man, was scarcely, if at all, his in- 
ferior in this respect, and he early acquired the esteem and regard 
of General Worth. On the occasion of which I am speaking, 
there were two plans presented for the consideration of the gene- 
ral-in-chief, by these accomplished engineers. Captain Lee was 
of opinion, that the proper manner of approaching the capital, was 
by the road diverging to the left, and leading through San Angel, 
etc. By this movement, we should have but a single obstacle to 
encounter, the fortified post of Padierna, which he was sanguine 
of carrying without much loss. Captain Mason, on the other 
hand, proposed that we should open the main road to Mexico, by 
carrying San Antonio with the bayonet, by a flank movement 
over the pedregal, or bed of lava, directed against its right. Both 
of these opinions were favorably received, and both of them par- 
tially acted upon. General Worth and myself returned to our 
camp, at Coapa, about eleven o'clock, and in the stillness of the 
night, we could hear distinctly the sounds of mirth and revelry in 



268 



GENERAL SCOTT *S CAMPAIGN 



the enemy's lines. What with the noise of trumpets, drums, and 
Indian shouts, Bedlam seemed to have been let loose. They were 
evidently holding a grand fandango, in honor of something or an- 
other — perhaps because of our halt in their front, for the purpose 
of reconnoitering, which they construed into a check ; especially 
as they had fired a few shot at us in the morning, which we had 
not returned. The contrast of this noisy rout, with the silent dis- 
cipline that appeared in the veteran ranks of the first division, 
struck me with peculiar force, as we rode along the dusky cause- 
way, flanked by the smouldering camp-fires, and the sleeping 
forms, wrapped in their blankets, of our soldiery. The only 
sounds of life that met the ear, were the measured tread of the 
sentinel, and his challenge as we approached, of " Who comes 
there ■?" 

After a night of rain, the morning of the 19th dawned in a 
cloudless sky, and the sun rose in his usual splendor, to light up 
the lovely valley of Mexico, in which the shock of contending armies 
was so soon to be felt. General Scott, in accordance with the 
recommendation of Captain Lee, dispatched General Pillow, sup- 
ported by General Twiggs, to open the road in the direction of 
Contreras and San Angel. The distance from San Augustin to 
Padierna, the enemy's intrenched camp, is a little over three miles. 
When our troops had proceeded about half this distance, they were 
opposed by the advance corps of the enemy, who, however, fell 
back to their intrenchments, after a little skirmishing. Intervening 
between our column and these intrenchments, there was a field of 
lava — the same as described at San Antonio — sloping down 
toward a ravine ; the ravine running along the base and in front 
of the works. A front attack upon these works, was therefore 
next to impossible, in consequence of the difficulties of the ground. 
About two o'clock, p. m., two batteries of light artillery, and how- 
itzers, commanded respectively by Captain Magruder, and Lieu- 
tenant Callender, were nevertheless advanced as near to the front of 
the enemy's works, as the lava would permit, when a mutual can- 
nonade ensued, which lasted the remainder of the afternoon : for 
what purpose, no one can conceive. As yet there was no plan of at- 
tack formed — indeed there could be none formed, until the ground 
was reconnoitered, which had not yet been done. The enemy had 



tS THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



269 



twenty-two pieces of heavy artillery, in battery, behind breast- 
works and in embrasure ; it was therefore the height of folly to 
attempt to counter-batter such an armament, with light field- 
pieces, and howitzers, entirely uncovered. Xay, more, it was 
criminal, as it subjected our batteries to be cut to pieces (as they, 
in fact, were), and entailed upon us a loss of many valuable officers 
and men, who could ill be spared, in the great disparity existing 
between ourselves and the enemy. From the azotea of General 
Worth's head-quarters, we listened to the constant roar of artil- 
lery and musketry, and watched the smoke and flash of the battle 
with our glasses — we were four miles distant — with great anxietv, 
all the afternoon. We could see no apparent change in the posi- 
tions of the two parties ; and from this argued, that generals Pillow 
and Twiggs, had received a serious check bv overwhelming num- 
bers. Great was our relief, when about an hour after dark, an 
orderly dashed into our camp, and brought us intelligence of the 
true state of facts, as above related. In the meantime, General 
Persifer F. Smith, commanding the 2d brigade of Twiggs* divi- 
sion, who had been sent forward under a hot fire, to support Ma- 
grader's and Callender's batteries, seeing with the eye of a soldier, 
the nature of the enemy's position, and that a front attack was 
out of the question, determined to try one of his flanks. Being 
isolated from his division, and having no ready means of commu- 
nication with it, he undertook this movement on his own respon- 
sibility ; reconnoitered the ground, with the assistance of Lee and 
his engineers, and planned and carried out the attack, which 
resulted in the glorious victory of Padierna — known more gene- 
rally as that of Contreras — without let or hindrance, as without 
suggestion from the commander-in-chief, or generals Pillow or 
[Twiggs. These facts, so honorable to the gallantry and military 
science of this distinguished officer, are, perhaps, not generally 
understood by the people of the United States. 

General Smith, selecting the enemy's left flank as the object of 
his movement, at once commenced his march — making a long cir- 
cuit over the lava — in that direction. His two principal objects in 
selecting this flank were : 1st, to throw himself between the ene- 

O 7 

my and his reinforcements ; and, 2dly, to cut off the enemy's 



270 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



retreat toward the city of Mexico, after his works should be 
carried. 

So far as the first of these objects was concerned — to- wit: the 
interposing some force between the enemy's intrenched position, 
and the city, to prevent him from receiving reinforcements — Gene- 
ral Pillow had conceived the same idea, as General Sir.:;";, and had 
dispatched General Cadwallader, to effect a lodgmen: in the village 
of Contreras, with this view. Late in the afternoon, General 
Scott rode out as near the field of operations, as the bed of lava 
would permit, and conceiving, or concurring in the idea of gene- 
rals Smith and Pillow, dispatched Colonel Morgan, of the 15th 
regiment of infantry, to effect the same object ; but he had been 
anticipated by both these officers, and Colonel Morgan, upon his 
arrival in the village, found it already in the possession of our 
troops. I am thus particular in describing all these movements, 
as I would not willingly do injustice to any of the parties inter- 
ested in them. Soon after General Smith's arrival in the village, 
Colonel Riley's brigade, which had been skirmishing with some 
detachments of the enemy, came up and reported to him. It was 
now after sunset, and nothing more could be accomplished that 
night. 

An hour or two afterward, and when General Smith's plans 
for an attack on the enemy's intrenched camp, on the following 
mornino* at daylight, had all been arranged. General Shields. :n 
command of the New York and South Carolina regiments, arrived 
on the ground. General Smith, acting on the belief that he was 
the senior of this officer — they were both brigadiers — directed 
him to hold the village of Contreras, for the purpose of cutting 
off the retreat of the enemy, after his camp should be earned, ::: 
the coming assault ; or to operate on the flank of his reserve, 
should he change front, and attack him (General Smith), while 
moving toward Padierna. General Shields, perceiving General 
Smith's mistake, with regard to his rank, and being unwilling to 
deprive this officer of the credit of carrying out the arrangements 
he had already so ably made, with great tact and delicacy, for- 
bore to undeceive him, and gallantly executed the part assigned 
him! A victorv over the egotism of our nature, which his 

V O 9 



IN THE VALLET OF MEXICO. 



271 



friends should cherish more, than a thousand victories on the 
battle-field. 

Let us now take a brief review, of the movements of the enemy 
up to this point. On the day of our march from Chalco, the 
reader has seen, that General Valencia was directed to counter- 
march his division from Tezcoco, and take post at Coyocan. He 
was afterward moved out as far as San Angel, a village about 
two miles and a half from Contreras. Upon reconnoitering this 
village, and the various paths leading to it, by way of Padierna, 
Contreras, etc. — there were four of these paths, one of them prac- 
ticable for artillery — he reported to General Santa Anna — then at 
Churubusco — that the post was not defensible, without fortifica- 
tions, which there was not time to erect, and requested permission 
to fall back upon some other point d'appui. This was on the 17th, 
before all our forces had reached San Augustin. General Santa 
Anna replied to him, on the same day, as follows. It is the min- 
ister of war who writes : " Having laid before the president, your 
note of to-day, in which you assign reasons why you should retire 
from the post you now occupy, I have been ordered to reply to 
you, as I now have the honor of doing, that there being in Tlalpam 
[San Augustin] only the vanguard of the enemy's army [Worth's 
division], consisting of two thousand five hundred men, with 
four pieces of light artillery, and seventy-five wagons, it is not 
likely he will undertake to march upon San Angel, to-morrow, 
both because of the smallness of the force, which is not more 
than about half your own, and because it would be necessary to 
repair the road, somewhat, to render it practicable for wagons. — 
Beside, we do not know but that, to save himself this trouble, he 
may attempt to force the pass of San Antonio. For these reasons, 
the president is of opinion, that there is no necessity for abandon- 
ing San Angel, in such haste ; and without this necessity, it would 
not be very honorable to do so. His excellency, therefore, desires 
that you remain where you are, until it is positively known that 
the enemy intends to take that route. But if, contrary to expect- 
ation, the aforesaid vanguard should undertake this movement, 
to-morrow, in that case, and only in that case, you may fall back 
upon Tacubaya — taking care to assure yourself that the enemy 
has really put himself en route ; for which purpose, you should 



272 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



push your spies, even into Tlalpam, itself." On the next day, 
the 18th, the day on which Worth's division moved to take a po- 
sition in front of San Antonio, and Lee commenced his reconnois- 
sance of the San Angel road, the minister of war writes to Gene- 
ral Valencia, from San Antonio, the head- quarters of General 
Santa Anna, as follows : 

" The general-in-chief directs me to say to your excellency, 
that the enemy having now (three o'clock, p. m.) taken up a po- 
sition on our left with a part of his forces [alluding to Worth's 
movement], it is clear, that to-morrow, at the latest, he will un- 
dertake the attack of this fortification, although it appears that 
there is a movement going on at the same time, on our right [allud- 
ing to Lee's reconnoissances, covered by Graham and Kearney]. 
His excellency, therefore, directs that at daylight, to-morrow 
morning, you will fall back, with the forces under your command, 
to Coyocan, sending forward your artillery to the fort of Churu- 
busco, and the tete cle ponl, at that place." But General Valen- 
cia, instead of obeying this order — which would have opened to 
us an unobstructed passage to the city of Mexico, General 
Worth's movement having effectually deceived Santa Anna as to our 
intentions — had changed his mind as to the defensibility of the post 
he occupied, and moving out to the hill of Padierna, had thrown 
up the field-work, which we have seen, and which General Smith 
was about to assault. Declining to obey the order to fall back 
upon Coyocan, he wrote his general-in-chief a reply, of which the 
following is an extract : "I should like much to be able to obey 
this order, but in view of present circumstances, my conscience as 
a military man, and my patriotism will not permit me. I believe 
the national cause would be lost, if I should abandon these posi- 
tions, and the road leading from San Augustin through Padier- 
na, to this point [he is writing from San Angel]. To me it is as 
clear as the light of day, that the enemy will undertake his attack, 
if not to-morrow, the day after ; that he designs to make two 
attacks, at the same time — the one true, and the other false — and 
that should he find, at the commencement of his movement, one 
of the points of attack abandoned, as this, for instance, he will 
pass by this route, with all his forces, and thus be enabled to as- 
sail our flank, and turn our rear. Or if he prefer it, he may pass 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



273 



on, without obstruction, to the city of Mexico." In the abov< 
extract, I have given the gist, rather than the precise words, o t 
General Valencia's reasoning, which was unquestionably sound, and 
based upon a more correct appreciation of our intended move- 
ment than that of his chief. This could not excuse his disobedi- 
ence, however. 

I am thus particular in describing the movements of the enemy, 
as General Santa Anna, afterward, laid the whole blame of his 
discomfiture on his disobedient general. This letter of General 
Yalencia was written on the 18th. On the 19th, occurred the 
cannonade between him and General Pillow, already described, 
and the movements of Smith, Shields, Cadwallader and Riley. As 
the reader has perceived, there was no battle fought, unless our 
ill-advised cannonade be regarded as one ; but only some indecisive 
skirmishing, as the various brigadiers were moving to take up 
their positions, preparatory to the assault of the following morning. 
I have elsewhere remarked, in these pages, that the Mexicans 
always beat us, in their dispatches, before the fighting came on. 
So it was on this occasion. General Yalencia, in his dispatch to 
General Santa Anna, dated at eio\ht o'clock, on the evening- of the 
19th, informed his chief, that he had- gained a complete victory, 
having put the whole of our forces to shameful flight. The 
opening words of this celebrated dispatch are : "After a despe- 
rate combat with all the Anglo-American forces, I have the high 
honor of informing your excellency, that I have put them to 
shameful flight, with the valiant army which I have the honor to 
command," etc. On the strength of this victory he was guilty 
of the absurdity of so far transcending his authority, as to 
make a large batch of promotions, including generals of division ! 
In announciDg this promotion to General Santa Anna, he says : 
"The honor of the republic, most excellent sir, was intrusted to 
proper hands, when it was confided to the brave officers under my 
command, and I have, therefore, had no difficulty in conferring upon 
all the generals, chiefs, and officers who participated in this glorious 
battle, the several promotions to which they are entitled." As an 
excuse for this conduct of General Yalencia, it has been said 
that he was drunk, at the time, which is quite probable, as he was 
a man of notoriously intemperate habits. General Santa Anna, it 



274 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



seems, was better informed as to the true state of things. Upon 
hearing the cannonade, he had marched with six thousand men, 
and five pieces of artillery, to reinforce General Valencia, but 
was not able to effect a junction in consequence of the difficulties 
of the ground, and the timely precautions generals Pillow and 
Smith had taken to occupy the village of Contreras ; which latter 
intervened, as has been remarked, between himself and General 
Valencia's position. The usual evening rains coming on, he retired 
to San Angel, to put his men under shelter ; and notwithstanding 
the receipt of General Valencia's bulletin announcing a glorious 
victory, sent an aid-de-camp to this officer, directing him, again, 
in the most positive manner, to withdraw from his position, and 
fall back upon San Angel. But this order, like the first, was dis- 
obeyed. 

The reader now understands the positions of both armies. We 
have General Smith, in the village of Contreras, with generals 
Shields, Cadwallader and Riley, each with his respective brigade, 
and Major Dimick commanding, for the time being, Smith's own 
brigade, in all about 3300 strong ; but without cavalry or artillery. 
General Valencia was posted on the hill of Padierna, with about 
six thousand men, and there were ten or twelve thousand more, 
within supporting distance. General Smith, in reviewing the criti- 
cal position in which he was thus placed, between two separate 
corps of the enemy, either of which was his superior in numbers, 
saw at once, that the most energetic action was required of him. 
He says in his dispatch, " I therefore directed an attack on the 
works of Contreras [Padierna], by turning their rear before day ; 
and Captain Lee, of the engineers, offered to return to General 
Scott (a most difficult task) — [in consequence of the darkness, and 
intricacy of the way] — and inform him of our position, and that 
I would march out by three o'clock, a. m., so that any diversion 
that he could make in our favor from that side, might be prepared 
accordingly." Captain Lee reached General Scott's head-quar- 
ters, in San Auo-ustin, at a late hour in the night ; informed him 
of the various movements of the day ; of the position of General 
Smith, and his intended plan of attack, and of this officer's request 
that a diversion might be made in his favor. This diversion was 
intrusted to my friend, Ransom, of the 9th, having with him, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



275 



beside his own regiment, some companies of the 3d, 12th and Rifles. 
A word more remains to be said of the topography, before General 
Smith puts his column in motion. It has been remarked that a 
ravine ran in front of General Valencia's camp. A branch of the 
same ravine extended, also, along the left flank, and toward the 
rear of the camp. It was up this latter ravine that General Smith 
designed to march. Lieutenants Tower and Beauregard, of the 
engineers, and Lieutenant Brooks, aid to General Twiggs, had 
closely reconnoitered the ground during the night, and were to 
conduct the different brigades. At precisely three o'clock, on the 
morning of the 20th, the troops were put in motion. The path 
was very narrow and rocky; it had rained all night — the men 
having slept on their arms, in the mud, and without fire — and was 
still raining, and the night was so dark, that General Smith, to 
prevent his rear files from going astray, was obliged to order the 
men to keep within touch of each other. The order of march was 
as follows : First, Colonel Riley's brigade; next, General Cadwal- 
lader's, and lastly, General Smith's own brigade, under Major 
Dimick. The march was so tedious, owing to the darkness of 
the night, and the badness of the road, that it was daylight before 
the head of Cadwallader's brigade filed out of the village, into 
the path w^hich descends into the ravine. Having followed up 
the ravine to a point whence it seemed possible to approach the 
work, General Smith halted his column, and closed up the rear 
ranks — the march having been by a flank, the column was neces- 
sarily very much spread. The veteran Colonel Riley, who was 
to be the first to give the assault, here examined his arms, and 
caused such of them as were wet to be re-loaded. He then moved 
on, and turning to his left, in the direction of the rear of the 
camp, left the ravine, and ascended the hill on which the camp 
was placed; but still sheltered from its fire by a slight swell in the 
ground. Here, having halted for a few moments to reform his 
ranks, he moved forward upon the swell, and presented himself 
in full view of the enemy. He was immediately opened upon by 
a fire of artillery and musketry, not only from the work, but from 
a force on his right flank. Throwing out his first two divisions as 
skirmishers, to protect his flanks, he now rushed headlong into the 
work, which he soon cleared with the bayonet and clubbed mus- 



276 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



ket. The engineer company, under Lieutenant Smith, and the 
Rifles, having in the meantime been thrown across the ravine, 
under the brow of the slope, swept it, from this position, in front; 
and then inclining to the left, joined in the attack on the troops 
outside the left flank of the fort. Ransom (who, as we have seen, 
had been detached to cause a diversion in favor of the main 
attack), coming up at the same moment, poured into the work, 
and upon the fugitives, a deadly fire of musketry. Cadwallader 
moved on to the support of Riley, following the same route that 
had been taken by the latter. Major Dimick had been ordered to 
follow Cadwallader, in turn ; but when he came abreast of the 
work, General Smith seeing his flank threatened by a large body 
of the enemy, faced him in that direction, and moved him forward 
to the attack in line. The attack was made in fine style, and the 
rout soon became complete. The cavalry, which at first made a 
stand, was put to flight by the bayonet, and trampling underfoot 
their own infantry, made a precipitate retreat. General Shields' 
brigade, under his skillful management, not only protected in a 
great measure, the movement of Smith, but intercepted great 
numbers of the fugitives, who were either cut down under the 
sure fire of the South Carolina rifles, or were made prisoners. In 
short, without pursuing details, it is sufficient to state, that seven 
hundred of the enemy were killed in this battle, and fifteen hun- 
dred made prisoners ; twenty-two pieces of artillery were found 
in the fort, and a large number of small arms ; seven hundred 
pack-mules, etc., etc., were captured. Thus was fought, by a 
gallant son of Louisiana, the first brilliant battle in the valley of 
Mexico ; a battle which opened to us the whole road to the capital, 
and placed the success of our campaign beyond doubt. 

At the conclusion of the battle General Valencia was nowhere 
to be found ! He had probably been sleeping off the effects of 
the previous night's debauch, when he was aroused by the crack 
of Riley's rifles, and the frightful yells of his men ; and being half 
stupefied, and bewildered, made a hasty retreat, regardless of 
everything but life. He made his way to Toluca, as was after- 
ward known, and disappeared from the theater of the war. His 
second in command, General Salas, who had been president ad. in., 
of the republic, wrote the dispatch on the occasion, which, as it 



JN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



277 



throws some light on the enemy's proceedings during the battle, I 
transcribe : 

" To the minister of war and marine. — On the 19th, at about 
twelve or one o'clock, p. m., the enemy presented himself in the 
attitude of attacking this position, on the heights of Contreras [Pa- 
dierna]. We, at once opened upon him, in succession, a vigorous 
fire of artillery and musketry, as he presented himself at the 
various points occupied by our troops, and succeeded in holding 
him in check, until night put an end to the contest. In this en- 
gagement, all classes of the army gave evidence of their courage, 
and of the decision with which they were willing to sacrifice their 
lives in defense of our nationality. But on the morning of the 
20th, thanks to the bad position which we occupied, and the care- 
lessness with which the movements of the enemy, made with a 
view of enveloping us, were regarded, we were routed in all 
directions by more than six thousand men — our own numbers 
amounting to three thousand infantry, cut off from all succor. 
As soon as I observed the dispersion of our forces, I made every 
effort to rally them, shouting victory for Mexico! and ordering the 
bugles to sound the charge. I succeeded in halting them foikii 
moment, when I ordered General Torrejon to charge with his 
corps ; but this officer, instead of obeying my order, betook him- 
self cowardly to flight ; the cavalry following his example, tramp- 
ling under foot the infantry, and completing the general disorder. 
It would appear ridiculous to present recommendations of those 
who were present in a lost battle ; but nevertheless, I feel obliged 
to speak favorably of the officers generally, who made great exer- 
tions to rally their troops, and withstand the attack of the enemy. 
In doing this, many of them were made prisoners. His excel- 
lency, the general-in-chief, Don Gabriel Valencia, disappeared 
from among us, at the commencement of the battle, and as I am 
ignorant of his abiding-place, I have deemed it my duty to make 
you this report/' etc. Et tu Brute! General Salas, who makes 
this report, had condescended, the night before, to receive from the 
hand of his now missing general, the grade of general of division ! 
Being second in command, one would think he might himself have 
taken some precautions against being "enveloped," while his 



278 



GEKERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



chief and patron was at his orgies at the supper-table. General 
Torrejon was another of Valencia's tleves — he had been made 
general of brigade. The circumstances attending this battle, give 
us considerable insight into the morale and organization of the 
Mexican army. All the chiefs were the secret, if not open ene- 
mies, of each other. In the various revolutions of the country, 
they had been more or less in hostile array, and although they 
were now compelled to dissemble their hatred, and act together 
in the common defense, upon the first reverse, they turned against 
each other, and each endeavored to fasten upon his neighbor, the 
odium of the disgrace. Generals Santa Anna and Valencia first 
exchange private letters, in which the most endearing expres- 
sions are introduced. General Valencia then seeing an opportu- 
nity, as he thinks, to push his fortunes, to the disadvantage of 
his friend and chief, disobeys his orders, and intrenches himself 
at Padierna. He and General Salas are now intimate, and he 
makes the latter a general of division. Salas, although perhaps 
as culpable as Valencia, takes the first opportunity to hold up his 
friend and patron to ridicule ; and in turn is disobeyed by Tor- 
rejon, his gallant confrere in the victory of the preceding day! 
No wonder we beat such generals. General Santa Anna threw 
the whole blame of his subsequent defeat at Churubusco, upon 
General Valencia ; but manifestly without reason, as Padierna was 
a very proper point to be defended ; and if it had been reconnoi- 
tered in time, and suitable batteries constructed, might have held 
us in check, and put us to serious inconvenience. And then, even 
on the supposition that Valencia had obeyed his orders, and left 
an important road to the capital open to us, without the necessity 
of our fighting a battle to open it, how could we have been preju- 
diced? I have said that General Smith fought and won this 
battle, without suggestion or direction. General Twiggs, to whose 
division he belonged, gives him this credit, with great magnani- 
mity, in his report. He says, "For the particulars of this affair, 
I would respectfully refer the general-in-chief, to the reports of 
General Smith and Colonel Riley, to whom, and to the other offi- 
cers engaged, is due all the credit that attaches. I was unable, 
for the reason given above [a lame foot] to come up to my divi- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



279 



sion, until the affair was over, and the road opened for my horse." 
The merit of making some of the preliminary dispositions for this 
battle, was afterward disputed by General Scott and General Pil- 
low, before a court of inquiry ; but if we except the general order 
given by both those generals to their subordinates, to endeavor 
to reach the San Angel road, there seems to be no foundation for 
the claim of either. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Worth's encampment before San Antonio — Storming of this place — March 
of the army upon Churubusco — Worth commands the right of attack — 
The battle of Churubusco — The storming of the tete de pont, and the fall 
of San Pablo — Consequent defeat and rout of the enemy — Gathering 
together the wounded, and burial of the dead — March of Scott and Worth 
upon Tacubaya — The policy of fighting the battle of Churubusco consi- 
dered, as also our failure to enter the city of Mexico — Armistice. 

While the events, described in the last chapter, were transpir- 
ing at Contreras, General Worth's division was encamped before 
San Antonio. The enemv, finding us thus inactive, had during 
the 19th thrown a few shells at us, and now and then sent a ball 
whizzing through the walls of the hacienda, knocking the white- 
wash and plaster about our heads, without, however, doing us 
any damage. Our ears were regaled nearly the whole night by 
the songs and shouts of merriment, and the beating of drums, 
and sounds of musical instruments, in the enemy's line. They 
were celebrating General Valencia's victory ! Worth's veterans, 
who had been chafing and fretting at this inaction, had been 
drawn up under arms nearly all day, expecting a momentary sum- 
mons to Contreras, but none came ; and at nightfall they lay down 
in and on the sides of the road, and covering themselves with 
their wet blankets, endeavored to snatch a few moments of repose, 
to nerve themselves for the bloody events, which they foresaw, 
were to ensue on the morrow. It was a terrible night ; the black 
and lowering clouds poured down torrents of rain, and the mimic 
roar and flash of the battle, which had been raging all day, were 
succeeded by the awful thunder and lightnings of the heavens. 
Notwithstanding this war of the elements, our fellows, worn out 
with fatigue and watching, slept soundly, perhaps dreaming of 
their far-off homes, and the comforts of their firesides. Alas ! 
before sunset the next day, many of them slept that sleep from 
which the trump of the archangel alone will awaken them. I 
'280) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



281 



have before remarked the exceeding regularity of these rains, 
and the certainty with, which a night of storm and darkness is 
followed by a morning of sunshine. It was so on this occasion ; 
and as the glorious orb of day lifted himself above the horizon, 
not a cloud or a wreath of vapor was to be seen in any direction. 
The magnificent valley, which had charmed and led Cortez on to 
conquest, now wreathed in smiles, and looked down upon by its 
peerless volcanoes, whose snow-clad summits dazzled the vision 
as they glistened in the morning sun, equally beckoned us on to 
fulfill our destiny. Like our great predecessor, whose descen- 
dants we had come to destroy, we were equally the children of 
fate, rolling up that dark curtain of the future, behind which an 
All-wise Providence has concealed from our feeble vision his mys- 
terious designs. But let us to work. General Worth, who up to 
the period of Smith's victory, had been ordered to mask and 
threaten San Antonio, but not to attack it, w x as now directed to 
carry it, if possible, and then act as circumstances should require ; 
it being General Scott's intention to move on to the assault of 
Churubusco with his whole army — less Quitman's brigade, which 
he had ordered to remain as a garrison in San Augustin, for the 
protection of the general depot. San Antonio has been before 
described as being a strong work thrown across the road, and 
accessible only on its right flank. It was, therefore, determined 
to carry it by sweeping around this flank, and assaulting it in the 
rear. For this purpose, Clarke's brigade, under the guidance of 
Captain Mason and Lieutenant Hardcastle, engineers, was de- 
ployed over the field of lava, on our left. The general ordered 
me to dismount and accompany the engineers, which gave me 
the opportunity of witnessing what I describe. Passing through 
a small thicket of thorn and briers, that skirted the road, we soon 
entered upon the field of lava, over which it was impossible for 
any one but a footman to pass. I cannot better describe this 
pedregal, than by comparing it to a sea, which having been lashed 
into fury by a tempest, had been suddenly transformed, by the 
wand of an enchanter, into stone. We picked our way, like so 
many chamois hunters, over and between these stony billows, and 
leaped from crest to crest, as a fissure would present itself. The 
reader will readily perceive that the inequality of the surface 
24 



282 



GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



protected us from the fire of artillery; and as a skirmishing 
ground for infantry, it was the best I ever saw. Clarke's brigade 
could have held it against the Mexican army. Soon after we 
commenced our march, the 4th infantry, under the guidance of 
Mackall — assistant adjutant-general — was deployed also to the 
left, and ordered to choose a route betwen the one we were pur- 
suing and the road, either to sustain our movement, or, if oppor- 
tunity offered, to rush upon one of the batteries. The enemy, 
perceiving our movement, sent out a few skirmishers to check us, 
if possible, and at the same time — influenced, no doubt, by the 
fall of Contreras, which had occurred a few hours before — com- 
menced an evacuation of his works. Brushing away the skir- 
mishers, we hurried forward, and having collected together a 
couple of companies — Merrill's and McPhail's — made a dash for 
the road, in time to cut the enemy's retreating column in two; 
driving General Bravo, with four pieces of light artillery, over the 
meadows, in the direction of Dolores, while the remainder made 
the best of its way to Churubusco. 

Nothing could exceed the scene of confusion, which was here 
witnessed. The magnificent causeway, lined on both sides by 
rows of stately shade trees, was filled, as far as the eye could 
reach, with masses of the flying enemy — three thousand. Cavalry, 
artillery, and infantry were all rushing forward pell-mell, amid 
the shouts of the officers, as they gave their confused and hurried 
orders, the rumbling of artillery and baggage -wagons, as the 
horses were whipped up to their full speed, the yells of teamsters 
and arrieros, and the shrieks of the wounded and dying, as they 
were tumbled from their saddles by the unerring aim of our mus- 
kets. We made a great many prisoners, many of whom threw 
themselves at our feet, in the utmost alarm and consternation. I 
happened to witness an amusing scene, just as I came out upon 
the road. I saw lying prostrate, under one of the shade trees, a 
remarkably bulky-looking figure, in the uniform of a Mexican 
general, and a soldier of one of our companies standing by him. 
Supposing the officer to have been killed, I inquired of the soldier 
if this were the fact. "Oh, no. sir," said he, "he is only a little 
out of wind, being a fat man ; I have just run him down." The 
general afterward informed me, that in the hurry of the retreat, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



283 



his aid-de-carap had run off with his horse, and that this was the 
cause of his being captured ! A thing which, I suppose, could 
only occur in Mexico. 

General Worth, as soon as he perceived that Clarke had 
opened his fire, directed Garland to advance rapidly in column, 
and attempt a direct assault, previously detaching a company in 
advance to draw the enemy's fire, and discover the magnitude of 
his batteries in that quarter ; but it appeared that the guns at that 
point had been hastily withdrawn in the hope of getting them 
away. Garland's column, therefore, accompanied by Duncan's 
battery, passed into and through the work without opposition. 
Some six hundred yards beyond the work, our two brigades were 
reunited, and we pushed on in pursuit of the enemy toward 
Churubusco, not stopping to attend to the details of securing 
prisoners, or paying much attention to General Bravo and his fly- 
ing masses, who were running in the wrong direction for us. 

Let us now pause a moment, to look at the works and the 
nature of the ground before us, and to cast a rapid glance at the 
movements of the other divisions of the army, for the great battle 
of this eventful day — the battle of Churubusco, in which all the 
forces on both sides were engaged — is still to be fought ; the bat- 
tles of Contreras and San Antonio having been mere preludes. It 
has been said that the village of Churubusco was about two miles 
and a quarter from San Antonio, by the route we were pursuing — 
the great causewav of San Aug-ustin leading to Mexico. From 
Padierna or Contreras, it is three miles to San Angel ; from San 
Angel to Covocan. it is one mile and three quarters, and from 
Covocan to Churubusco, it is one mile. This last route was the 
one taken by General Scott, and the remaining divisions of the 
army. Both these approaches were strongly defended ; the great- 
est attention having been paid, as a matter of course, to the 
defenses of the principal route, which, as the reader sees, was the 
one taken by Worth. Just in the rear of the scattering hamlets, 
known as the village of Churubusco, there was a wide and deep 
canal, cutting the causeway and continuing over the plain per- 
pendicularlv to the road, a long distance to the left (enemy's 
left). This canal was bridged at its intersection with the cause- 
way ; and at the hither end, or head of this bridge, there was 



284 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



constructed a field-work, known in military nomenclature, as a 
tete de pont. This work bad been planned and constructed in the 
most scientific manner (Mora y Villamil, Robles, and other Mexi- 
can engineers, having deservedly a very high reputation for skill 
in their art), was regularly bastioned and curtained, and sur- 
rounded in every part, except at the gorge, by a formidable wet 
ditch. It commanded the main approach by the causeway, and 
that also, by its left flank. There were four guns in this work ; 
two in embrasure, bearing in front, and two — one in embrasure, 
and one en barbette — bearing on its left flank. Dikes, extending 
along the banks of the canal, and of sufficient elevation to afford 
protection for infantry, had been constructed in ages gone by to 
guard against inundations. These, for the distance of a mile and 
more, to the left of the tete de pont, were now converted into ram- 
parts, and occupied by dense masses of infantry. The ground, 
in front of this murderous dike, was occupied by corn-fields (the 
corn six feet high and more, and waving its green leaves and 
silken tassels most invitingly, but treacherously, in the gentle 
breeze that was blowing) and straggling fruit, and other trees. 
The plowed ground, though not miry, was still heavy, and a 
net-work of cross ditches and dikes, obstructed our rapid approach. 
When it is recollected that we were maneuvering on a dead-level, 
in front of these formidable defenses, and entirely without protec- 
tion, the reader will have an idea of the bloody work which Gene- 
ral Worth had before him. To the right of the tete de pont, about 
three hundred yards from it, and somewhat in advance of it, on 
the road debouching into the causeway from Coyocan, was another 
fortified position, commanding the approach from that direction. 
This work — the fortification of San Pablo — consisted of a stone 
church, that served as a sort of citadel, and two walls, one within 
the other. The outer wall constituted a regular field-work, was 
pierced with embrasures, and was defended by three pieces of 
artillery. This work was open on the rear and on the right flank — 
that portion of it not having been completed. The flat roof of 
the church and the steeple, afforded excellent positions for marks- 
men, who could see every one who approached while they were 
themselves covered by parapets and walls. The nature of the 
ground on the right was pretty much such as it has been described 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



285 



on the left. The reader thus sees the work which General Scott 
has before him. 

Beside the seven pieces of artillery in the two fortified positions, 
the enemy had various other batteries of movable pieces on the 
ground. His troops, all told, amounted to about twenty-five 
thousand men ; long lines of infantry and cavalry being drawn up 
on the causeway, and many detachments occupying houses — 
every house being in itself a fortification — on both sides of the 
road, and the cross dikes that cut up the fields. There is one 
more remark necessary to give the reader a correct view of the 
whole ground, as a military position. The tete de pont was situ- 
ated, as I have said, on the left-rear of San Pablo (see map). 
It was also considerably elevated above it, and commanded it 
with its guns ; it was, therefore, the key to the whole position. 
When carried, San Pablo fell, as a matter of course ; and the way 
being opened to the rear of the dikes, perpendicular to the road, 
the enemy's infantry was uncovered, and the battle gained. I 
claim for General Worth the merit of having won this battle ; 
with the gallant and able assistance, to be sure, of the other divi- 
sions of the army, but which divisions, from their positions, were 
necessarily reduced to the necessity of playing a subordinate part. 
I shall, of course, offend by this statement, the egotism of the 
less liberal or less enlightened of the other divisions, but I appeal 
fearlessly to the facts, and to the reasoning of the unprejudiced 
reader, upon those facts. The good fortune which fell to the lot 
of the 1st division, on this occasion, was not by any pre-arrange- 
ment — it was purely one of the chances of war. Nor is it meant 
to arrogate to this division, or to its commander, any superiority 
over the other divisions or other commanders of the army. There 
was no plan of battle, other than such as was formed on the spot, 
and in the heat of pursuit, by the commanders themselves. And 
this, for a very simple reason, viz : that there had been no recon- 
noissance of the enemy's position and defenses ; and without a 
knowledge of the ground, neither General Scott, nor any other 
military man, could have given an intelligent or intelligible order 
in regard to it. It must be presumed, too, as a matter of course, 
that if General Scott could have foreseen the paramount impor- 
tance of Worth's operations, he would have assumed control of 



286 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



these operations himself, by moving upon Worth's line, instead 

of upon the line from Padierna. As it was. the army was div 
into two great divisions or wings, each isolated from the other, 
and moving by convergent roads upon the same object — the right 
division or wing being commanded by Worth, and the left by 
Scott. Except that they both had the same object in view, these 
two wings, so far as there was any interchange of orders and 
movements, were essentially two different armies. 

But let us move on to the attack. We left Worth's division in 
hot pursuit of the enemy, whom he had routed at San Antonio, 
and who was falling back, in a disorderly retreat, upon Churu- 
busco. A retreating foe, with balls and bayonets at his back, 
always flies faster than a pursuing one. We overtook but few 
of these fugitives, therefore. Beside. General Worth, knowing 
well that there was another battle in advance of him, and the 
around being new to him, checked the pursuit, after the first few 
minutes of excitement, and moved forward, coolly, with his divi- 
sion well in hand. As we advanced, first the enemy's artillery 
from the tete de jjord, which enfiladed the road, and then his 
musketry, opened upon us. General Scott had got into action, 
on the enemy's right, a short time before us. owino; to our delay 
at San Antonio; and now a tremendous roar of artillery and small 
arms was heard from one end to the other of the enemy's line, 
extending more than a mile. Like old Bernal Diaz. I seem to 
hear this crash of battle still. The stunning explosions of the 
cannon, at rapid intervals, were accompanied by an unceasing and 
a sharper, and if possible, more startling rattle of musketry. The 
day. as I have before remarked, was perfectly clear, but the 
smoke, as it arose over the heads of the combatants, formed a 
dense canopy, that partially obscured the sun. and reflected back, 
as is sometimes seen with regard to the lightning in a thunder- 
storm, the quick and vivid flashes of the various fire-arms. The 
scene was grand beyond description : there was now scarcely a 
breath of air stirring ; and while the stillness of the valley was 
broken by the dire thunders above described, nature, in striking 
contrast to the bloody work which was going on. seemed only to 
smile ; and presented to the eye of the beholder, her green fruit 
trees, and tall grain bowing low with refreshing plenty. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



287 



Worth, halting a moment for reconnoissance, and casting his 
eagle eye rapidly over the field, with that quickness of combina- 
tion and military reasoning, for which he was so justly celebrated, 
saw at once the true points of attack, and marshaled and moved 
forward his forces accordingly. Garland's brigade was thrown 
out promptly to the right of, and directed to move in line (of 
columns) obliquely to the road, so as to strike in its advance, and 
deployment, the enemy's line (of infantry) at a like angle — Dun- 
can's light battery moving on the right. Clarke's brigade — with 
the exception of the 6th infantry — was ordered to move also to 
the right, and by a flank parallel to the road, while the 6th in- 
fantry was directed to move boldly up the road (taking shelter 
along its sides as far as possible), and storm the tete cle pont in 
front. These able combinations were formed in less time than I 
have been describing them, and the movements were as rapidly 
put in execution. The field through which Garland and Clarke 
were moving, was filled, as the reader has seen, with standing 
corn, which, while it afforded no protection to our troops, offered 
great advantages to the enemy for concealment. We suffered, 
therefore, terribly for a while, until we had driven the enemy's 
advance from this favorable position upon the dikes in the rear. 
When the battle was over, we counted one hundred dead bodies 
of our brave fellows lying in this corn-field, within the space of 
an acre ! It was soon ascertained that Duncan's battery, which 
would have been of infinite service to Garland, could not be got 
over the ground, by reason of the cross-dikes, before described. 
It was therefore, ordered to fall back, and be held in reserve 
until opportunity should occur for its services, which was not long 
in presenting itself. The 6th infantry moved forward with great 
steadiness, to assault the field-work in front, as it had been di- 
rected, but was met by so destructive a fire, ripping and cutting its 
ranks in pieces, that it was forced to recoil and fall back ; which, 
however, was done with the coolness of a parade. 

Meanwhile, Clarke, with the remainder of his brigade, more 
favorably situated, but still under a galling and destructive fire, 
from the two pieces of artillery described as commandiDg the ap- 
proach on the flank, and from musketry, dashed past at " double 
quick," the deep wet ditch that surrounded the work, and carried 



288 



GENERAL SCOTl's CAMPAIGN 



it with the bayonet ; men and officers rushing, pell-mell, into the 
embrasures and over the walls, without the help of ladders. The 
enemy could no longer withstand the shock, but gave way, and 
in a moment more, the cheers of our brave fellows announced that 
we had possession of the Ute de pont; the key to the battle-field. 
General Pillow had joined us, a short time previously, with 
one of his brigades — Cadwallader's — and is entitled to a share 
of the honor of this exploit. 

Let us now see what the left wing of the army, under General 
Scott, has been doing. This officer, when he arrived at Coyo- 
can — one mile from Churubusco — halted, a short time, as Gene- 
ral Worth had done, to make a hastv reconnoissance. This beine 
accomplished, he dispatched General Twiggs, with one of his 
brigades — that of General Smith, less the Rifles — and Captain 
Taylor's field-battery, to attack the fortified position of San Pablo ; 
following the movement, soon afterward, himself. He then 
directed General Pierce, with his brigade (Pillow's division), 
to follow another road, to the left, with a view to attack the ene- 
my's right and rear, and at the same time favor Twiggs' move- 
ment. This brigade he subsequently reinforced, by Shields' bri- 
gade, composed, as the reader knows, of the gallant South 
Carolina and New York regiments. Shields, being Pierce's 
senior, assumed command of the whole ; and as he had a bad 
habit of getting into hot places, he was obliged to be still further 
reinforced, before the close of the action, by the Rifles, which, 
up to this time, had formed General Twiggs' reserve, and by Cap- 
tain Sibley's company of dragoons. Twiggs was soon hotly en- 
gaged, and Taylor's battery, which had imprudently been placed 
in an exposed position, was disabled by the enemy's heavier metal, 
and compelled (by superior orders) to retire. Shields, advanc- 
ing about a mile toward the right and rear of the enemy, on the 
road leading in that direction, left the road, at this point, and 
bent his course more toward the causeway, passing through a 
heavy corn-field, and reaching a position, in a swampy meadow, 
in which was situated the Hacienda de los Portales. His object 
was to penetrate to the causeway, if possible, and attack the ene- 
my in rear, or intercept his retreat when he should be driven 
from his position in front, by Worth and Twiggs. There were 



IN THE VALLEY OP MEXICO. 



289 



four thousand of the enemy's infantry drawn up on the causeway, 
covered by some three thousand cavalry, extending on their right. 
Shields, at first, endeavored to out-flank this force, by a move- 
ment to the left (his left) ; but finding the enemy to answer his 
movement, by extending himself to the right, and to do this 
faster, because of the firm ground on which he maneuvered, 
than he (Shields) was able to move, he withdrew his men to 
the hacienda, and resolved on a front attack. " I selected," 
says he, " the Palmetto regiment as the base of my line, and 
this gallant regiment moved forward firmly, and rapidly, under a 
fire of musketry, as terrible, perhaps, as any which soldiers ever 
faced." The Palmetto thus forming the Genter of the attack, the 
"New York, 12th, and 15th regiments were deployed in support, 
on the right, and the gallant 9th, under my friend, Ransom, was 
moved to the left. The whole line now advanced steadily, open- 
ing their fire as they came up. They were faced by overwhelm- 
ingly superior numbers, however, and a most deadly conflict 
ensued. Of the two hundred and seventy-two men of the gal- 
lant Palmetto regiment, who went into action, on this occasion, 
one hundred and thirty-seven fell on this bloody field ! among 
them were the lamented Colonel Butler, first wounded (but refus- 
ing to retire), and then shot dead, and Lieutenant- Colonel Dick- 
enson, mortally wounded. In consequence of the bad ground on 
which the gallant brigadier operated, and the vastly superior 
forces of the enemy, he must have been cut to pieces, but for the 
events which followed, in other parts of the field. 

We left Worth, just as he had carried the tete de pont. At this 
moment, the battle was raging, as we have seen, with unremitting 
fury, on the left. Twiggs, with but a portion of one of his bri- 
gades, and with his battery of light artillery cut in pieces, was 
held in check before San Pablo — his men advancing in detached 
parties, under such shelter as they could find, and making but 
little progress, notwithstanding the cool courage they displayed ; 
and Shields barely maintaining his ground, by the most desperate 
valor, and at the expense of frightful loss. As soon as our men 
rushed into the tete de jpont, as described, captains Larkin Smith 
and Bomford, who were among the foremost, immediately seized 
upon the enemy's artillery, and turned it upon San Pablo, which 
25 



290 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



the tete de pont, from its superior elevation, commanded, as has 
been stated. At the same moment, Duncan's battery (which 
General Worth, instead of ordering it to batter superior metal, 
and thus subjecting it to be cut to pieces, as Taylor's battery had 
been, had prudently kept masked and in reserve) was hurriedly 
brought up to the front, and opened also, upon San Pablo. This 
celebrated battery was only about four hundred yards from its 
target ; and I never before witnessed so rapid and destructive a 
fire. The gallant lieutenant-colonel had his men in fine training, 
and I am afraid to say how many discharges — from four pieces — 
were made in a minute, lest I should tax the credulity of the 
reader ; but there did not appear to be an intermission of more 
than three seconds between the reports. The effect was speedy 
and decisive. The devoted fortress, which up to this moment, 
had not in the least slackened its fire, having now its artillerists 
driven from their guns, and the sharp-shooters from the church 
top and steeple, at once succumbed, and hung out a white flag 
from the church balcony ; which being seen by General Worth, 
who, like the rest of us, was near Duncan's pieces, watching his 
beautiful "exercise," with admiration, he ordered the fire to be 
discontinued, and dispatched an officer to accept the surrender. — 
Leaving thus, to his subordinates, as he always did, the details of 
receiving swords and flags from the enemy, and of looking after 
prisoners, in which smaller minds find so much gratification, he 
hurried on, in pursuit of the now flying enemy — the long and 
beautiful causeway leading to the city gates, being filled with his 
masses of cavalry and infantry, in a confused and disorderly re- 
treat. The moment the enemy had begun to waver, and show 
signs of confusion, Shields, with the remnants of his gallant regi- 
ments, had rushed forward, and now reached the causeway, just 
as the head of Worth's column came up. He fell into our ranks, 
and joined with us in the pursuit. Pillow, who was with us, here 
reunited his division, and the three generals pushed on together. 
It is four miles from Churubusco to the city of Mexico. The 
united forces continued the pursuit for two miles and a half, to 
Candelaria, when General Worth (who had no orders from Gene- 
ral Scott, and who was ignorant of his intentions), in consultation 
with the other generals, called a halt. He was soon afterward 



LN THK VALLKY OF MEXICO. 



291 



overtaken by an order from General Scott, to desist from the pur- 
suit. In the meantime, however, Colonel Harney coming up 
with two squadrons of cavalry, he was permitted, by Worth, to 
make a dash at the rear of the enemy. In the eager pursuit, 
Kearney, who with Captain McReynolds, of the 3d, headed the 
charge, rushed up to the very gate of the city, sabring all in his 
way — not with impunity, however, as he lost an arm. McRey- 
nolds and Graham were also wounded, and Lieutenant Ewell, 
who had succeeded to the command, had two horses shot under 
him. Major Mills, of the 1 5th infantry, who was a volunteer in 
this charge, was killed at, or within, the gate. This gallant feat 
of my friend Kearney, performed with less than a hundred men, 
proved our ability to have entered and possessed ourselves of the 
city, within two hours after the battle. 

If the reader has followed me attentively, through the details 
of this eventful and long-continued struggle — it lasted more than 
three hours — he has seen that I have made good my assertion, 
that it was mainly fought and won by General Worth. If the 
facts be true, as I have stated them, it appears, 1st, that the tete 
de pont was the key to the enemy's position ; 2dly, that when this 
work was carried, no abatement had taken place in the battle, on 
our left, where Twiggs and Shields, under the orders of the gene- 
ral-in-chief, were both held at bay ; 3dly, that soon after Larkin 
Smith, Bomford, and Duncan opened upon San Pablo, that work 
surrendered ; and 4thly, that the giving way by the enemy, in 
front, as a consequence of the capture of these two places, ena- 
bled Shields to charge up to the causeway, in time to join Worth 
in the pursuit. There is no escaping from this chain of military 
reasoning ; and the only dispute, if there be any, must be about 
the facts. It is not denied, that Worth captured the tete de pont, 
before an impression had been made on any other point. And it 
is not denied, that Smith, Bomford, and Duncan turned their ar- 
tillery upon San Pablo, some twenty minutes before that fortress 
fell ; but a claim has been set up by General Twiggs' division, of 
having captured this latter work, inasmuch as Captain Alexander, 
of one of Twiggs' regiments, received the surrender ; which, 
General Worth, as we have seen, had dispatched one of his sub- 
ordinates to receive. Nothing is more natural, than that these 



292 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



differences of opinion should arise among chivalrous and honor- 
able men, who look at the events they describe, from different 
points of view. Captain Alexander, and his brave associates, 
were bearding San Pablo, in front, and were, of course, intent 
only upon their own operations. When they observed the fire of 
the fortress slacken, they rushed forward, and entering the work, 
sword in hand, believed they had carried it, not having seen 
Worth playing upon it, in flank and rear, and with his artillery — 
they having nothing but muskets — opening the way for them. 
General Worth and his staff witnessed all these operations, from 
a point not more than four hundred yards distant; and when we 
pushed forward, in pursuit, neither the general, nor any one of 
us, had the least idea that any counter-claim could possibly be set 
up, to the capture of this place. General Worth's officer, whom 
he dispatched to accept the surrender, had to pick his way 
through many obstructions, in an attempt to take a short cut to 
the fortress, and was finally compelled to turn back, and pass 
through the tete de pont, to be able to reach it. By this time, 
Worth's column was well on its way, in pursuit of the enemy, 
and Captain Alexander had already entered, and received the 
surrender. 

But to set this question at rest, I will quote the enemy himself, 
who, of course, is the best judge of the motives which influenced 
his surrender, and of the facts which occurred within the pre- 
cincts of his own fortification. General Bincon commanded San 
Pablo, and General Anaya — afterward president, ad. in., of the 
republic — the tete de pont; the whole being under the command 
of General Santa Anna, who, being general-in-chief, was well in 
the rear. General Bincon, in assigning causes for his defeat, in 
his dispatch to the minister of war, says : " The bridge redoubt 
[tete de pont), situated on the San Antonio road, and which was 
not under my orders, was assaulted and taken by the enemy, 
which enabled him, libremente envolver nuestra posicion, que mira 
al sur'* — freely to envelop our position, which looks to the 
south. In other words, General Rincon regarded the tete de pont 
as the key to his position, uncovering his rear, and assigned the 
capture of this work, by Worth, as the cause of his defeat. Fur- 
ther : the commander of the artillery, under Bincon, in making 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



293 



his report to his chief, uses the following language : " Having in- 
formed your excellency that the battery on the right [in San Pa- 
blo] was disabled of its artillery, I received an order from your 
excellency, to reinforce that flank, by withdrawing the pieces 
from the front, when, to my horror, I discovered that the enemy 
had already charged and carried the tete de pont." These guns 
were not shifted, and plainly, because the commandant of artille- 
ry, like his chief, regarded that all had been lost, in losing the 
tete de pont. Much of the loss, as well as the glory of this battle, 
fell upon Worth's division, although all the strategic skill of the 
commander was put in requisition to spare his men, as much as 
possible. The relative numbers of the killed and wounded, gath- 
ered officially, after a battle, always show where the fighting was 
done. "Worth's loss, on this occasion, was three hundred and forty- 
nine ; General Shields', whose command was much less numerous 
than Worth's, was two hundred and forty ; General Twiggs', whose 
division was about the size of Worth's, was two hundred ; and 
General Pillow's, whose division was the largest on the ground, 
something short of two hundred. The enemy's loss was but 
little, if any superior, to our own, owing to his having fought be- 
hind defenses, and to his wonderful speed of foot, in saving him- 
self when routed. A large number of prisoners was taken in 
San Pablo — the enemy having retreated from the Ute de pont into 
that work. Among others, there were captured some twenty- 
seven deserters from our army, most of whom had deserted dur- 
ing the war, and entered voluntarily into the enemy's ranks. The 
penalty of death awaited them. General Worth, in speaking of 
these miscreants, says : " These wretches served the guns — the 
use of which they had been taught in our own service — and with 
fatal effect upon the persons of their former comrades." 

Thus was fought, on the 20th of August, 1847, the battle of 
Churubusco, one of the most brilliant exploits of our arms, and 
in which larger numbers had been engaged, on both sides, than 
in any previous battle of the war. General Worth, who had seen 
much hard fighting in two wars, after having described the move- 
ments of his division, expresses, in the following language, his 
sense of the triumph we had achieved. "When I recur to the 
nature of the ground, and the fact that the division (2600 strong, 



294 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



of all arms) was engaged from two, to two and a half hours, in 
a hand-to-hand conflict, with from 7000 to 9000 of the ene- 
my, having the advantage of position, and occupying regular 
works — which, our engineers will say, were most skillfully con- 
structed — the mind is filled with wonder, and the heart with 
gratitude to the brave officers and soldiers, whose steady and 
indomitable valor has, under such circumstances, aided in achiev- 
ing results so honorable to our country — results not accomplished, 
however, without the sacrifice of many valuable lives/ ' General 
Scott generously and eloquently expressed his appreciation of the 
services of his subordinates, as follows : "So terminated the series 
of events, which I have but feebly presented. My thanks were 
freely poured out on the different fields — to the abilities and 
science of generals, and other officers — to the gallantry and 
prowess of all, the rank and file included ; but a reward infinitely 
higher — the applause of a grateful country and government — will, 
I cannot doubt, be accorded, in due time, to so much merit, of 
every sort, displayed by this gallant army, which has now over- 
come all difficulties — distance, climate, fortifications, ground, and 
numbers." General Shields, in his official report, makes the fol- 
lowing honorable mention of my gallant friend, and co-lieutenant, 
Shubrick, who as the reader recollects, joined the staff of this 
officer just before our march from Puebla. " Lieutenant Shubrick, 
of the navy, who accompanied me, attached himself to the Pal- 
metto regiment of his native state, and fought in its ranks, and 
is spoken of handsomely, in the report of its commander.' ? He 
was one of the hundred and thirty-five who escaped unhurt out 
of the two hundred and seventy-two of the gallant South Caroli- 
nians, who had gone into battle. Pillow makes like honorable 
mention of my 'protege, Rogers, in quest of whom I had come all 
the way from Vera Cruz. "My personal staff, Captain Hooker, 
my adjutant-general and chief of my staff; Lieutenant Rains, 4th 
artillery, and Lieutenant Ripley, 2d artillery, aids-de-camp, and 
Passed-Midshipman R. C. Rogers, volunteer aid-de-camp, greatly 
distinguished themselves by their fearless and gallant conduct, as 
well as by their judgment and skill in leading forward my diffe- 
rent commands, and placing them in position for effective service, 
throughout these long and desperate conflicts. I trust the 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



295 



general-in-chief will deem their conduct worthy of his special 
notice. " 

And now, in imitation of other chiefs, I must not forget to 
bring to the notice of the reader my " personal staff." Seymour, 
arrayed in his tarpaulin hat, with about three yards of ribbon 
around it, and with his pea-jacket buttoned up to the chin — he 
always wore this garment because it had capacious pockets for the 
convenience of stowing away menavelins — and girded taut around 
the waist, by a naming red sash, and mounted on a rough-looking 
Mexican pony, which was in the habit of having a fight with him and 
throwing him every twenty-four hours, was sometimes visible and 
sometimes invisible ; taking a fancy, every now and then, to make 
an independent cruise, to see what was going on, in other parts 
of the field, in order, as he said, that we might "put it down, all 
right" in our log-book. He swears he killed two Mexicans with 
his own hand — but he adds, that being " bloody gray -jackets/' 
he considers them of little consequence. I can testify, with more 
certainty, to his having pryed my horse out of a ditch, into which 
I had fallen chin-deep in water while attempting to leap it, with 
a fence-rail, which he called a capstan-bar; and to his having 
gotten hold, by some of those means which sailors only know — 
there were sundry shops in the village, from which the affrighted 
Mexicans had run off — of a pocket-full of puros — cigars — and a 
flask of aguardiente; and that the aguardiente was not "bad to 
take," after a hard day's ride. 

General Worth encamped in advance of the other divisions of the 
army — a position he had so nobly won — and very near the place 
where he had been halted by the general-in-chief. It so hap- 
pened that we pitched our tent on the very spot (Ladrillera, 
known formerly as Xoloc) on which Cortez had established his 
head- quarters, some three centuries and a quarter before, while 
prosecuting the siege of the city, which we were now attempting, 
in our turn, to enter. A hospital was hastily prepared a short 
distance in our rear, and thither were carried all the wounded 
that could be found, in the short space that intervened before 
dark. Notwithstanding our exertions, however, many a brave 
fellow, who had been bereft of a limb, or otherwise mutilated, 
spent the night, on the now deserted field of his glory, alone with 



296 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



his wounds and his anguish ! As the shades of night began to 
close around, the sky became overcast by dull murky clouds, and 
a misty rain set in — a befitting pall for the dead who lay strewn 
over the battle-field. Now that the excitement of the battle and 
of the pursuit was over, we had leisure to reflect upon the terrible 
work, in which we had been engaged ; to recall to mind, with 
sorrowful hearts, the various comrades who had fallen by our 
sides, and to shudder at the thought, that the battle of Churu- 
busco, while it had crowned the generals with laurels, would 
carry mourning and desolation into the heart of many a wife and 
helpless orphan ; would crush to the earth, never to rise again, 
many a fond and doting mother ; and would array fathers, and 
brothers, and sisters in tears. In view of this darker picture of 
the great Moloch of the human species, War, terrible indeed, is 
the responsibility of him who lightly or thoughtlessly provokes 
it. We almost hated ourselves for the elation which we had per- 
mitted to take possession of us a few hours before, while rending 
the air with the shouts of victory. 

"We can better brook to behold the dying, 
Deep in the tide of their warm blood lying, 
Scorched with the death-thirst and writhing in vain, 
Than the perishing dead who are past all pain. 
There is something of pride in the perilous hour, 
"VThate'er be the shape, in which death may lower, 
For fame is there, to say who bleeds, 
And honor's eye on daring deeds ! 
But when all is past, it is humbling to tread. 
O'er the weltering field of the tombless dead, 
And see the worms of the earth and fowls of the air, 
Beasts of the forest, all gathering there." 

Our total loss, in killed and wounded, was eleven hundred, of 
whom eighty-four were officers. This great disproportion of offi- 
cers shows the secret of our success ; the gallant fellows led, and 
the men followed them. The next day was devoted to the sad 
duty of collecting and burying the dead — the corn-fields, dikes, 
and ditches, and other broken ground, being carefully searched 
for any unfortunate wounded, who might not yet have been 
found. At 11 a. M. s we broke up our encampment, by order of 
the general-in-chief, and marched for Tacubaya. Having been 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



297 



halted an hour and a half, on the way, by superior orders, we did 
not arrive until 5 p. m. General Scott had preceded us, escorted 
by Harney's dragoons, and taken up his quarters in the archiepis- 
copal palace, which, crowning the village — that occupied a hill- 
side — overlooked it, and commanded a fine view (at the distance 
of about a mile and a half) of the city of Mexico. 

At this stage of our proceedings two questions very naturally 
present themselves to the reader's mind. The first is, "why was 
the battle of Churubusco fought?" and the second, "why did 
not General Scott enter the city of Mexico immediately after the 
battle ?" It would be difficult to answer either of these questions 
satisfactorily. The mass of our people, rendered enthusiastic by 
the brilliant events of the campaign, have hitherto bestowed but 
little reflection on the subject ; and perhaps even now, such is 
their taste for blood and glory, that they would not have one of 
these battles unf ought, if they could. But the time will come, 
when (the freshness of the events having disappeared) the military 
critic and the moralist will both demand answers to these ques- 
tions. In the eye of philosophy, no more blood should be shed 
in a war, than is requisite to attain its purposes ; all waste of life 
beyond this, is criminal ; and if a fearful responsibility rests upon 
the civil power, in developing a war, an equally fearful one rests 
upon the leaders of armies, in its conduct. Let us test the battle 
of Churubusco by these principles. The object of General Scott's 
campaign was to strike a vital blow at the enemy, by reaching 
and possessing himself of his capital. By reference to the map, 
the reader will perceive, that General Smith's victory, at Contre- 
ras, opened half a dozen roads — all of them practicable for wagons 
and artillery — to this point. After leaving San Angel, one might 
take the Nino Perdido road, the Piedad road, or the road to Ta- 
cubaya, without being obliged to approach Churubusco, nearer 
than a mile and a half. Now Churubusco being an isolated 
fortress, four miles from the city, it is impossible to point out a 
single sound reason, why it should have been assaulted ; and if 
assaulted at all, why it should have been assaulted in front, * since 

* The following was a favorite maxim with Napoleon. "It is a well un- 
derstood maxim, in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for 
the simple reason, that he does wish it. One should always avoid, therefore. 



298 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

General Scott had nothing to do, but to take either of two cross 
roads leading from the Nino Perdido road, into the causeway in 
the rear ? But why assault it at all ? Once at Tacubava (and "this 
was the point which General Scott made the base of his subse- 
quent operations against the city), the works at Churubusco, 
having no bearing whatever upon the defense of the citv, were as 
useless to the enemy, as those of the Penon and Mexicalciiuo. 
The latter was rather nearer the city, indeed, than Churubusco, 
and it would have been just as wise, after turning it, to have gone 
back and assaulted it, at great loss, as it was to assault Churubusco, 
after having turned it ; and that it was turned, we have the testi- 
mony of General Valencia, and General Scott himself, who when 
speaking of the great results of the victory of Contreras, savs in 
his dispatch: " Thus was the great victory of Contreras, achiev- 
ed ; one road to the capital opened ; seven hundred of the enemy 
killed/' etc. But this point will not be disputed. What was to 
be gained by the capture of Churubusco ? Xothing ; since the 
enemy would himself have abandoned it, the moment we had 
taken up a position at Tacubava, or any other point in its rear, as 
he had done the Penon and Mexicalcingo, when we took the 
route around lake Chaico. He would have done this, not only 
because the works would no longer have been of service to him, 
but because of the necessity of withdrawing his troops, to oppose 
a new front to us. When it is recollected that this was not a 
battle offered to us by the enemy on the open field, and which we 
were not at liberty to decline, but a terrible and bloody assault 
upon strong works, in front, which we wrested from the enemy 
at a sacrifice of eleven hundred men. in order that we might have 
command of a road, into which we could have entered peaceably, 
in the rear, and of which we made no use, when we obtained 
possession of it, the reader cannot fail to see the greatness of the 
mistake. Perhaps the old doctrine of the inexpediency of leaving 
a fortified position, in the rear, arose to perturb the vision of the 

giving him battle ou his own ground, which lie has reconnoitered and 
studied ; and one should be still more careful not to attack him in his in- 
trenchments. It follows as a consequence of this principle, that a position 
should never be attacked in front, which may be attacked in flank or 
rear." 



IN THE VALLEF OF MEXICO. 



299 



commander-in-chief. But we had already abandoned this " ques- 
tion of the rear" (which, indeed, had had no application to our 
circumstances, since we left Jalapa) when, in the words of Gene- 
ral Worth, we had " crossed the Rubicon/' by crossing the Rio 
Frio. We had, as I have before remarked, left the Penon and 
Mexicalcingo behind us, and why should we not have left Churu- 
busco also, which was farther from Mexico than Mexicalcingo ? 
I fearlessly invite the examination of these views by military men, 
in the full confidence that their criticisms will sustain me. I can 
imagine but a single reason which the apologists of the campaign — 
and there are men, who not content with extolling its real points 
of excellence, are blind to all its defects — can urge with any show 
of plausibility, in favor of this battle : and that is, that it beat and 
weakened the enemy, and rendered our entry into the city more 
easy. A moment's reflection will show us the fallacy of this. 
Armies contend for superiority, in open field — it is there they try 
to weaken each other, with a view to ulterior results. But who 
ever heard of one army assaulting another, in fortifications, for 
this purpose, or for any other purpose, but to possess itself of the 
fortifications, which have become obstructions to its further pro- 
gress ? Further, we were not in a condition to play this weaken- 
ing game, being in the heart of the enemy's country, beyond the 
reach of reinforcements, and having but 10,000 men to his 30,000. 
We were precisely in the position of Cortez, who husbanded his 
men with so much care for his final assault upon the city. Where 
we lost one man, the enemy could afford to lose ten, and gain by 
the operation. In his eight millions of population, he had plenty 
of recruits to step into the shoes of his dead soldiers — we had 
none. Beside, this argument loses all its force, by what afterward 
took place. We did not enter the city of Mexico, but, as the 
reader will perceive, as we progress, instead of taking advantage 
of the splendid and costly victory we had gained, we gave the 
enemy ample time to recover from the effects of his defeat : thus 
imposing upon ourselves the necessity of doing all our work over 
again. The reader has seen, that the gallant Captain Kearney 
charged, by Worth's permission, up to the city gate, and that the 
no less gallant Major Mills, of the 1 5th, was killed at, or as some 
say, actually within the gate. This demonstrates the facility with 



300 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



which we might have entered ; not because the enemy was so 
much weakened, that he had not proper garrisons for the protec- 
tion of his batteries and the service of his guns, as few men would 
have sufficed for this, but because he could not close his gates or 
fire upon our troops, without closing them and firing upon his own 
men also. We should have entered pell-mell with him, as a 
delay of a single day would enable him to rally, and deprive us 
of all our advantages. 

It is but just to General Scott to let him speak for himself, and 
assign his own reasons why he failed to enter the city of Mexico. 
He says, in his dispatch : "After so many victories [he means, 
Contreras, and San Antonio, and the three battles into which he 
divided Churubusco], we might, with but little additional loss, 
have occupied the capital the same evening. But Mr. Trist, com- 
missioner, etc., as well as myself, had been admonished, by the 
best friends of peace — intelligent neutrals, and some American 
residents — against precipitation ; lest, by wantonly driving away 
the government and others dishonored, we mio'ht scatter the ele- 
ments of peace, excite a spirit of desperation, and thus indefi- 
nitely postpone the hope of accommodation. " One of these 
" intelligent neutrals " was a Mr. Mcintosh, the British consul, a 
man who had married in the country, was thoroughly Mexican, 
and was, beside, a creature of Santa Anna. He acted an impor- 
tant part in the preliminary negotiations which followed ; and it 
was at his house in Tacubaya, that the commissioners afterward 
met to negotiate the armistice. Our friend Kendall, of the Xew 
Orleans Picayune, known favorably and extensively, by his 
" Santa Fe Expedition," and by his more recent and elegant work, 
entitled "Battles of Mexico — Illustrated," was sitting in our tent, 
on the evening of the battle — it was about twilight — when this 
gentleman arrived, in company with the Mexican general, Mora 
v Villamil, and one or two others, to propose a truce to General 
Scott. The commission was entertained a few minutes by Gene- 
ral Worth, and then dispatched, under an escort, to the rear, to 
General Scott's head-quarters. When they had gone, Kendall, 
with the bluntness and frankness which characterize him, ex- 
claimed : "It's no use, we're humbugged — Mcintosh is among 
them !" Kendall, some years before, had been a prisoner, in 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



801 



Mexico, and knew the man well. So it turned out — we were 
humbugged, as the reader will perceive. It was only astonish- 
ing that any man who had been six months in Mexico, should 
have learned so little of the Mexican character, as to have sup- 
posed the people capable of being " dishonored/' by being beaten ; 
or possessed of public virtue enough, to be driven, in any ex- 
tremity, to " desperation.' ' It was not two months since Santa 
Anna and the congress had laughed at us, and played off upon 
us the farce, which I have described a few pages back ; and it 
was evident to every one, except to Mr. Trist and General Scott, 
both of whom had strong political reasons, for concluding the war 
as soon as possible, and negotiating a peace, that Santa Anna's 
only object, was to gain time, and that he would never consent to 
treat with us, in good faith, until we drove him from the capital. 
We had as yet, but penetrated his outer line of defenses, and he 
was, of course, not going to yield the city without a struggle, 
after having bestowed upon its fortifications so much money, and 
such unheard-of exertions. 

With regard to General Scott's fears of " dispersing the ele- 
ments of peace," by driving the government out of the capital, 
we were obliged to disperse these elements at last, after much 
hard fighting, and many heavy losses, and they seemed to reas- 
semble at Queretaro all the more rapidly, for the dispersion. And 
this will always be the case, as an enemy never refuses to make 
peace, because he has been too much, but because he has been 
too little, beaten. But a speedy peace, both General Scott and 
Mr. Trist were resolved to have, and in their eagerness to 
secure it, they were overreached by the astute Santa Anna, who 
played upon their credulity until he was ready to resume defen- 
sive operations, and then defiantly threw off the mask. This 
scheme will be developed as we proceed. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The Armistice continued — Exchange of letters between Santa Anna and 
Rejon — The trickery put in play by the former, to dupe General Scott — 
Armistice promulgated to both armies — Negotiations for peace — Amusing 
diplomacy — Rupture of negotiations — Stoning of the American wagons, 
in the city of Mexico, by the populace — The armistice declared at an 
end — Sharp correspondence between General Scott and General Santa 
Anna — The village of Tacubaya described — Execution of the deserters 
captured at Churubusco — Reflections upon the campaign — Events pre- 
ceding the battle of Molino del Rey. 

Having asserted, in the last chapter, that the Mexican general 
did not entertain, from the beginning, the most remote idea of mak- 
ing peace, and that the armistice into which he entrapped us, was 
nothing more than one of those tricks, known as a ruse de guerre, 
I proceed to make good the assertion. This will be made suffi- 
ciently apparent from the two letters which follow, and which fell 
into my hands, by accident, after we entered the city of Mexico. 
Rejon, the writer of the first of these letters, was one of the prin- 
cipal politicians of Mexico, and had, in former rears, occupied a 
post in the cabinet under Santa Anna. 

" Queretaro, August 29, 1847. 
" To his excellency, Don Antonio Lopez Santa Anna : 

"My respected Friend and Senor : — I avail myself of an ex- 
traordinary courier to write a few lines only, as I have not time for 
more. With the greatest pain I have learned, that since the unfor- 
tunate affair of the 1st division, under General Valencia, you are 
talking of entering into negotiations for peace ; and that the minister 
of foreign affairs has directed to the president of congress a com- 
munication offensive to our army, and humiliating to the republic. 
No, my general ! the war ought to be prosecuted ; and if the capi- 
tal cannot be saved, abandon it, as you did Puebla, and withdraw 
our troops to continue the war against the enemy in the best man- 
(302) 



general scott's campaign 



303 



ner they can. Resources will not be wanting, as the states, with 
the slightest encouragement, will supply them. Peace will destroy 
you, whereas the continuation of the war will cover you with 
honor and glory ; and, if you will but carry it on without truce 
and with energy, nothing will be able to alienate from you the 
affections of your countrymen. In this quarter the disgust has 
been general, since we first heard of these sad negotiations, and 
yesterday morning a courier passed through here from Toluca for 
the interior, with communications from the state of Mexico, arous- 
ing the states to revolt against any authority that should attempt 
to make peace in the capital. I know this, as I received one of 
these communications myself ; and to be frank with you, as a 
friend, I must inform you that I am committed to this course. — 
Continue the war, and I will perish by your side. 

" Manuel Rejon." 

General Santa Anna, in reply to the above, writes as follows : 

" Mexico, August 31, 1847. 
i( To Don Manuel Rejon, Queretaro. — My esteemed friend. — I 
have received your gratifying favor of the 29th inst., and in reply, 
I have to say to you, that I have read with the most bitter regret 
the charges you have made against the government, for the course 
it has pursued since the unfortunate affairs of arms, of the 1 9th 
and 20th inst. After the defeat sustained by General Valencia 
at Padierna, I was under the necessity of falling back upon the 
last line of fortifications of the capital ; first having encountered 
all the enemy's force, at the Puente de Churubusco. On the day 
after this affair, when I was preparing to renew the combat, the 
enemy solicited an armistice, in order that the commissioner of the 
United States, Mr. Trist, might be heard, which I granted ; be- 
cause the suspension of hostilities would give my troops rest, re-estab- 
lish their morale, and enable me to collect the dispersed, and adopt 
other measures to insure a reaction. I wished beside, to strengthen 
the justice of our cause, by listening to the propositions of the 
United States ; because, to speak frankly, our obstinacy in refusing 
to receive these overtures from the United States, placed them in 
the right in continuing the war. The negotiations have com- 



304 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



nienced, but I assure you, in the name of a true Mexican, -which 
I have the honor to bear, that my government will not accept any 
propositions of peace, which shall detract from the dignity of the 
nation. If our honor cannot be saved, the war continues, and 
shall continue with obstinacy and energy, until the United States 
recognize the justice of our cause, and make reparation for the 
insults they have offered us. This is my purpose : so vou mav at 
once set yourself at rest, and continue your efforts to keep public 
opinion in the proper channel, and to encourage all good Mexicans 
to co-operate with loyalty and confidence, in the defense of the 
common cause. Antoxio Lopez de Santa Aota/' 

From the context of the above letter it is seen, that the writer's 
only objects were, first, to gain time to collect his scattered forces, 
and to renew the morale of his army, for another struggle ; and 
secondly, to strengthen his cause by appearing to listen to propo- 
sitions he never meant to accept; for he knew very well before- 
hand, in what our propositions consisted, and that their object was 
not "to recognize the justice of our cause, and make reparation 
for the insults they have offered us*" The reader has not failed to 
remark the expression used in this letter, to the effect, that while 
the writer of it was preparing to defend himself, on the day after 
the battle of Churubusco, the enemy, that is, General Scott, 
solicited an armistice, which he. the writer, granted. This is a 
contradiction of my previous statement, that the proposition came 
from the enemy ; but both statements, paradoxical as it may seem, 
are true. This requires some explanation; and the explanation 
will serve to show the reader how thoroughly we were duped, and 
how adroitly Santa Anna played his cards, not only to obtain the 
armistice, which was to save him from destruction, but to relieve 
himself from the suspicion of being inclined to peace. It was 
artfully represented to General Scott, and afterward to the com- 
missioners who negotiated the armistice, that although General 
Santa Anna was seeking the negotiation in good faith, there 
was a large party opposed to him, eagerly watching his move- 
ments ; and that if it should appear officially, that he had made 
the first advance, in bringing about the armistice, this party would 
seek to crush him, and thus, perhaps, postpone indefinitely, our 



I 

IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



305 



hopes of concluding the war. It was insisted, therefore, that in 
all the public documents connected with the armistice, it should 
appear that the proposition came from us. This suggestion, alone, 
should have put us on our guard ; have shown us that the Mexican 
people were not yet prepared for peace, and that the commanding 
general, who was the mere creature of the people, could not be 
acting in good faith — notwithstanding any representations to the 
contrary, made by "intelligent neutrals, and some American resi- 
dents/' But the artifice succeeded, as will appear from the fol- 
lowing correspondence of the two generals-in-chief. It will be - 
recollected, that on the evening of the battle, viz : on the 20th, 
Mcintosh, one of the "intelligent neutrals/' came out to our camp, 
in company with General Mora y Villamil. They had an interview 
with General Scott, and the next day the correspondence look 
place, as follows : 

" Head- Quarters of the Army, U. S. America, 

"Coyocan, August 21, 1847. 
"To his excellency, the president, and general-in-chief of the re- 
public of Mexico : 

" Sir : — Too much blood has already been shed in this unnatural 
war between the two great republics of this continent. It is time 
that the differences between them should be amicably and honor- 
ably settled; and it is known to your excellency, that a commis- 
sioner on the part of the United States, clothed with full powers 
to that end, is with this army. To enable the two republics to 
enter on negotiation, I am willing to sign on reasonable terms, a 
short armistice. I shall wait with impatience until to-morrow 
morning, for a direct answer to this communication ; but shall, in 
the meantime, seize and occupy such positions outside of the 
capital, as I may deem necessary, to the shelter and comfort of 
this army. 

"I have the honor to remain, with high consideration, etc., 
" Your excellency's most ob't serv't, 
"Wlnfield Scott." 

"Ministry of War and Marine, Mexico, Aug. 21, 1847. 
"Sir : — The undersigned, minister of war and marine of the gov- 
ernment of the United States of Mexico, is instructed by his excel- 
26 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



lency, the president, commander-in-chief, to reply to your commu- 
nication, in which you propose to enter into an armistice, with a 
view to avoid the further shedding of blood between the two great 
republics of this continent, for the purpose of hearing the proposi- 
tions which may be made for this purpose, by the commissioner of 
his excellency, the President of the United States of America, who 
is at the head-quarters of the American army. It is certainly lamen- 
table, that in consequence of the disregard of the rights of the 
Mexican republic, the shedding of blood has become inevitable, 
between the first republics of the American continent ; and your 
excellency, with great propriety, qualifies this war, as unnatural, 
as well on account of its origin, as the antecedents of the two 
people, identified by their relations and their interests," etc. 

" AlCORTA." 

The reader thus perceives that the official account of this tran- 
saction, represents us. as pausing in the career of victory, to sue 
for an armistice, which had. in fact, been begged by the enemy. 
But for the circumstances which I have above detailed, it would 
put us, in the eye of the historian, in the humiliating attitude, of 
continuing to beg for a peace, which the enemy scorned to grant 
us. And then, the insulting tone and temper of Alcorta's note ! 
Where were the wits of Mr. Commissioner Trist and of General 
Scott, that they did not see that this was not the mood in which 
a negotiator, desirous of peace, enters upon his duties ? At the 
very moment of consenting to grant us an armistice, we are insult- 
ingly reminded of the wrongs we have inflicted on Mexico, and 
are told that the war is. indeed, an unnatural one. on account of 
its origin, etc. Verily, one on reading this correspondence, would 
suppose, that we had at length become convinced of our error in 
waging war upon our enemy, and were desirous of an opportu- 
nitv of making him an humble apology. 

The reader recollects the ludicrous struggle which took place 
between Santa Anna and congress, some six weeks before this, in 
which each contended that the other should take the initiative, in 
receiving Mr. Trist' s propositions, and the remark which was then 
made of the insincerity of Santa Anna's scruples. Here is the 
illustration of it : When Santa Anna was desirous of another 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



307 



battle, his constitutional scruples prevented him from treating with 
us, but now that an armistice had become necessary to him — all 
things remaining as before — he saw no difficulties whatever in his 
way, in approaching us. Indeed he expressly declared that he 
did so, in virtue of the permission given him by congress, to ex- 
ercise his ordinary functions ; which permission, he had declared, 
on the former occasion, to be insufficient ! This was the wily 
chief with whom we had to do, and whom we good-naturedly 
permitted to cajole us into the loss of a thousand more men. 

The commissioners to negotiate the armistice met, as I have 
before said, at the house of Mcintosh. They were, on our part, 
generals Quitman, Smith and Pierce ; and on the part of the 
enemy, generals Mora y Villamil, and Quijano. Major Palacios, a 
gentleman, who having been educated in the United States, spoke 
English, attended the Mexican commissioners, as secretary and 
interpreter, and I accompanied the American commissioners in the 
same capacity ; which gave me the opportunity of witnessing the 
tortuous and insincere policy of the enemy as above described. 
We sat up the whole night, disputing with our opponents, about 
the wording of a few articles, to the precise phraseology of which, 
Senor Mora, who did all the talking on the Mexican side, attached 
great importance. He was a creature of Santa Anna, and assured 
us, with the gravest countenance, that his chief was in earnest, in 
desiring to put an end to the war. Our own commissioners acted 
under precise orders from their general-in-chief, and carried out 
his instructions. Ratifications of the armistice were exchanged 
on the 23d — three days after the battle — and it was forthwith 
promulgated by both commanding generals. 

On the same evening on which we were engaged at the house 
of Mr. Mcintosh, in negotiating the armistice, General Santa 
Anna assembled the generals of his army ; laid before them 
a statement of his means for carrying on the war, and urged 
them to persevere in the struggle, in the event of our attempting 
to impose any dishonor on Mexico, in the conferences which were 
to ensue, between Mr. Trist, and the Mexican commissioners. — 
With mock humility, on this occasion, he endeavored to find some 
Miltiades, among his generals, who would undertake the charge 
of the public defense, volunteering to wave his rank, and serve 



308 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



under him. All of which was duly bulletined to the nation, by 
his minister, Pacheco. 

On the 25th, General Herrera, formerly president of the repub- 
lic, Senor Monjardin, a justice of the supreme court, and Senor 
Garay were appointed commissioners, on the part of Mexico, to 
meet Mr. Trist, and enter upon negotiations for peace. All three 
of these gentlemen declined to serve ; but General Herrera, at the 
earnest solicitation of Santa Anna, changed his determination, 
and afterward sat on the commission. General Herrera assigned 
as his reason, for not wishing to serve, the following : " That 
being at the head of the government, in 1845, when the United 
States sent a commissioner to arrange the difficulties, which had 
arisen on the subject of Texas, his administration had been calum- 
niated, and himself separated from the government, because he 
had been of opinion that the said commissioner should be received, 
in order that his propositions might be heard," etc. To which 
Santa Anna replied that this was the very reason why he insisted 
on his serving ; they both being of the same opinion, w T ith regard 
to "the propriety of at least listening to the enemy's proposi- 
tions. " The commission was afterward rendered complete, by 
the appointment of Messrs. Couto and Atristain, and General 
Mora y Villamil. 

On the 24th of August, and the day after General Santa Anna 
had held his council of war, a cabinet meeting was called, and 
among other items, the following were agreed to, as instructions 
for the commissioners, viz : 

1st. The general basis on which the commissioners are to treat 
is, that Mexico has triumphed in the war, and is in a condition to 
carry it on with success; 2d, that the American commissioner 
should be required to declare what were the motives and inten- 
tions of his government, in provoking and prosecuting the war; 
3d, that the United States should claim no rights as growing out 
of the war ; but that the negotiation should be conducted as a 
friendly one throughout ; 4th, that the independence of Texas 
might be recognized, in consideration of an indemnity, but that 
the limits of Texas should be understood to be those which were 
prescribed by the treaty of 1819, and not to extend to the Rio 
Grande, as a congress of pretended Texans had declared ; 5th, 



IN THE 9 ALLEY OF MEXICO. 



809 



that it should be understood, that Mexico relinquished her claims 
to Texas, not in consequence of annexation, or conquest, but by 
virtue of sale ; 6th, indemnity to be made for damages, loss of 
property, and the extraordinary expenses of the war which had 
been waged on the Mexican territory ; 7th, indemnity to be made 
to the families of Matamoros, Monterey, Vera Cruz, and other 
towns, villages, and haciendas, who had suffered in consequence 
of the war ; 8th, indemnity to be made for depredations commit- 
ted by the American troops ; 9th, that the United States be re- 
quired to exclude slavery from the acquired territory ; 10th, that 
all captured ships and trophies be returned ; 11th, that the cap- 
tured Irish prisoners be restored ; 12th, that this treaty is not to be 
definitely ratified in a shorter time than one year, etc. To these 
items of instruction (which I have gathered from the context of 
the original document — see Diario del Gobierno, of the 9th of 
September, 1847 — and numbered without any reference to the 
order in which they were placed by the Mexicans themselves), 
others were afterward added. If, up to this time, the reader has 
had any doubt as to the real object with which Santa Anna entrap- 
ped us into granting him an armistice, that doubt must now be dis- 
pelled. The malice of the defeated chief could not have enabled 
him to cast a more studied insult upon us, than he had done by 
these items of instruction to his commissioners. He not only 
required of us impossible things, with a view to render the nego- 
tiation nugatory, and enable him to carry on the war, which he 
never meant to put an end to, so long as he could remain at the 
head of it ; but he taunted us with points entirely foreign to the 
war ; the wily chief knowing well, that he touched a vital ques- 
tion, when he alluded to the exclusion of slavery from Texas.— 
But he reckoned without his host, when he supposed that such 
men as Herrera and Couto, would consent to act under such in- 
structions (their authority being farther limited to simply hearing, 
without deciding anything until reference could be had to him). 
Not only these two leading members of the commission, but 
the whole five resigned in a body, when the instructions were 
sent them ; and only consented to serve afterward, on condition 
of a part of the instructions being withdrawn, other parts modi- 
fied, and their general powers amplified. 



310 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



On the 25di, Mr. Trist notified Mr. Pacheco, that he was ready 
to enter upon the negotiation, and was informed, on the following 
day, that the commissioners would meet him, at four o'clock, on 
the evening of the 27th, at Atzcapozaleo, a hamlet intermediate 
between the two armies. They met at the appointed time and 
place, and it was soon ascertained, that the pretensions of the two 
parties, notwithstanding the modifications which had been made 
by Santa Anna, were wholly irreconcilable. The negotiations, 
however — the place of meeting being removed to a more conve- 
nient point (the house of Alfao), on the causeway of Chapulte- 
pec — were spun out for several days, until it was convenient for 
Santa Anna to show his hand. The principal dispute, of course, 
was about the boundaries of the two republics ; Mr. Trist requir- 
ing Texas to the Rio Grande, New Mexico, and both Californias — 
the United States paying an indemnity for all, save Texas — and 
the Mexican commissioners, although consenting to the sale of 
Upper California, refusing to part with Lower California, New 
Mexico, or that portion of Texas included between the Nueces 
and the Rio Grande. Mr. Trist, after a day or two, abandoned 
his pretensions to Lower California, and offered, if the territory 
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande should be the only point 
of dispute, to refer this question to his government ; which would 
require the armistice to continue some forty-five days. But Santa 
Anna decided, that he would not await this reference, which he 
declared, beside, to be useless, as the retention of New Mexico, 
and of this strip of territory, was a sine qua mm with him. He 
was well aware, that the war grew, mainly, out of our claim to 
Texas to the Rio Grande ; and he knew, if Mr. Trist did not, that 
the war would be continued unless this point was yielded — which 
was the very result he was aiming at. Although he had aban- 
doned many of his arrogant pretensions, in deference to the better 
judgment of Herrera and his associates, he by no means intended 
to forego his secret, as well as avowed determination, of continu- 
ing the war. The Mexican commissioners placed their desire of 
retaining the barren strip of territory, between the Nueces and the 
Rio Grande, principally, on the ground, that had been pointed out 
to them by Humboldt, some forty years before, viz : that it was 
their natural military and commercial frontier. They wished, in 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



311 



imitation of children, who attempt to obstruct a stream with tiny 
bulwarks of sand, to interpose this barrier (which was to remain 
unpeopled) between us and them, to prevent further encroach- 
ments, and thus preserve their territory intact for the future. — 
They feared, too, and with justice, that our proximity would de- 
range their narrow system of commercial restrictions, and render 
an additional line of internal custom-houses necessary. They had 
no sound policy on which to base their retention of New Mexico ; 
but insisted that it would be dishonorable to abandon one of the 
most loyal of their provinces, to its fate. Mr. Trist seems to 
have conducted this negotiation, if not to a favorable conclusion, 
at least with much temper and discretion, as the Mexican commis- 
sioners, in making their final report to the government, speak of 
him in the following flattering terms : " It remains for us to say, 
that in our intercourse with Mr. Trist, we have found only mo- 
tives to appreciate his noble character, and, if some day the work 
of pacification shall be completed, it will be done by means of ne- 
gotiators adorned with the estimable traits w^hich, in our opinion, 
distinguish this minister.' ' 

The negotiations were brought to a close on the 6th of Septem- 
ber. Santa Anna had thus had a respite of seventeen days ; a 
period sufficient to enable him, to "give my troops rest, re-estab- 
lish their morale, and enable me to collect the dispersed, and 
adopt other measures to insure a reaction." His bad faith had 
not only been shown, by his course with regard to the negotia- 
tion, but had been manifested in various other ways. Among 
other things, it was provided by one of the articles (7th) of the 
armistice, as follows : " The American army shall not, by vio- 
lence, obstruct the passage from the open country, into the city 
of Mexico, of the ordinary supplies of food, necessary to the con- 
sumption of its inhabitants, or the Mexican army, within the city : 
nor shall the Mexican authorities, civil or military, do any act to 
obstruct the passage of supplies from the city or the countrv, 
needed by the American army." My friend, Hargous, with whom 
the reader is acquainted, as one of the most active financiers and 
purveyors of the army, having made arrangements for drawing- 
supplies for General Scott, from the city, on the 26th, we dis- 
patched sixty wagons, for this purpose. The wagons were met 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



at the gate by an escort of about forty Mexican lancers, and were 
permitted to enter. They penetrated as far as the grand plaza ; 
but before they could receive their loads, a mob assembled 
around them, and began to assault the unarmed teamsters, with 
sticks and stones. This movement was commenced by the boys, 
then joined in by the women, and finally some of the better 
classes of the population took part in it. It was now reported by 
some one, that our entry into the city in this manner, was a con- 
spiracy to take armed possession of it. With this, the mob grew 
more furious, and shouting, " Mueran los Yankees — muera el 
General Santa Anna, por traidor!" — death to the Yankees — death 
to General Santa Anna as a traitor! — began to stone the Mexican 
escort, as well as the wagoners ; and the affair becoming alarm- 
ing, our commissaries gave up the effort to obtain supplies, and 
made the best of their way back to the camp. One of the team- 
sters was killed, and several badly hurt, in this affair, which would 
have resulted much more seriously, but for General Herrera, who 
fearlessly threw himself into the midst of the mob, and shamed 
the people, telling them that they should be " valiant on the field of 
battle, but humane toward the defenseless." Although there were 
twenty thousand troops in the city, there was no effort made, by 
Santa Anna, to repress this mob — he was, on the contrary, no 
doubt, well pleased at it. A similar effort to obtain supplies was 
made on the following day, but resulted as before, and we were 
obliged to abandon all attempts, to avail ourselves of the benefits 
of this article of the armistice. 

General Scott, at length, having his patience exhausted, and 
being informed by Mr. Trist, that the negotiation was at an end, 
addressed a note to General Santa Anna, accusing him of sundry 
breaches of the armistice, and informing him, that if a satisfactory 
excuse was not rendered by noon, on the following day (Septem- 
ber 7th), he would declare the armistice at an end. In reply to 
this note, Santa Anna writes : " The civil and military Mexican 
authorities have not prevented the passage of provisions to the 
American army ; if the transmission of these has been retarded, 
it has been because of the imprudence of the American agents, 
who have not previously put themselves in concert with those au- 
thorities, and have thus given occasion to the popular effervescence, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



313 



which it has cost the government much labor to repress. It is 
false that any new work of fortification has been undertaken, there 
having been only some repairs made to one or two works, to put 
them in the condition they were in at the time of concluding the 
armistice. I was, on the contrary, informed at an early day, that 
you had established a hidden battery in Tacubaya ; but I forbore 
to take any notice of it, because I was unwilling to make the 
peace between two great republics depend upon things which 
though grave in themselves, were of but little account in compari- 
son. I have been profoundly affected, also, by the complaints 
which have come to me, from the fathers and husbands dwelling 
in the villages occupied by your troops, of the violence which has 
been done to their daughters and wives. These same villages 
have been robbed, too, not only in violation of the armistice, but 
in contempt of the laws of civilized nations. I have kept silence 
until now, in order that I might not obstruct a negotiation which 
promised to terminate a scandalous war, which your excellency 
has justly characterized as * unnatural.' But I will not insist 
upon offering you apologies, as I am well aware that the real 
cause of your threats to terminate the armistice, has been my 
refusal to sign a treaty which would not only deprive my country 
of a considerable portion of its territory, but of the honor and 
decorum, which she is determined to defend at all hazards," etc. 

Thus was terminated, in ill-humor, on both sides, an act which 
was begun in folly on ours, and in treachery on that of the 
enemy. The reader must not suppose that the opposition of 
Mexico to a peace, at this time, grew out of any generous resolve 
(as the concluding paragraph of the above letter would lead him 
to believe) to defend the national honor, and preserve, intact, the 
Mexican territory. He has been told more than once, that there 
was no "people" in Mexico, in the sense in which this term is 
understood in the United States. In other words, that there was 
no enlightened public opinion, descending through the various 
classes of the population, and controlling the action of the govern- 
ment. The ignorant, and but half civilized masses, were opposed 
to lis, from a feeling of caste and a sort of barbarian hatred, com- 
mon to savages, against all strangers. The hatred of the upper 
classes was not less intense, and arose out of comparisons but 
27 



814 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



little favorable to themselves, which they could not but make 
between the two nations, and out of a jealousy of our power, and 
a certain undefined dread of future encroachments on our part. 
But notwithstanding this hatred of the upper classes — who alone 
formed the body politic — many of them were inclined to peace, 
from prudential considerations ; being apprehensive, if the war 
continued, that they would ultimately be compelled to make 
greater sacrifices than those demanded of them at present. They 
knew, full well, that the honor of a beaten nation, and especially 
of a weaker one, was not compromised by its making peace, on 
the best terms it could procure, when it could no longer defend 
itself ; and, as for territory, they saw the policy of parting with, 
at least, Upper California and New Mexico, which, owing to the 
internal disorders of the republic, they had ceased to govern, with 
any regularity or system, for several years. But, unfortunately, 
faction stepped in to prevent any concert of action between these 
men, and the impulses of patriotism gave way, in many instances, 
to egotism. They were politicians, and belonged to the "out 
party," and had less dread of the American army, than of Santa 
Anna and his adherents. They knew very well, that if the fifteen 
or twenty millions of dollars, which we were to pay for the ceded 
territory, once got into the hands of their political opponents, it 
would all be absorbed by them without their being able to share 
in the plunder ; and they feared that with this money, Santa Anna, 
with his army, would fasten himself upon them, perhaps, for a 
long term of years. They were, therefore, not so much opposed 
to the peace as to Santa Anna's being the person to conclude it. 
On the other hand, Santa Anna, whom the people began to 
despise, on account, among other things, of his numerous defeats, 
was sanguine of being able to defend himself in the capital. Al- 
though, with his shrewdness, he must have seen the necessitv of 
very soon bringing the war to an end, and the advantages which 
would result to him, as being the instrument to effect this, he was 
well aware that, but for the army, his party would be in a minori- 
ty, and he was afraid to undertake so decisive a step until he should 
have strengthened himself by some temporary advantage over us. 
The reader thus perceives some of the hidden motives which 
actuated those very patriotic gentlemen, the politicians of Mexico, 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



315 



about this period. All parties claimed, of course, to act in the 
name of honor and patriotism — words which form a part of the 
unmeaning vocabulary of the politician in Mexico, as elsewhere. 

While the negotiations for the armistice, and afterward for 
peace, were progressing, the army, cantoned in Tacubaya and 
the adjacent towns, remained inactive. Tacubaya is a pleasant 
little village, containing about fifteen hundred inhabitants, and is 
a kind of watering-place in the neighborhood of the capital. — 
Many of the city merchants have extensive villas here with highly 
cultivated gardens, luxurious baths, etc. Several clever English 
families met us here, with a frankness and cordiality inspired by 
a community of race, language and laws ; and many pleasant re- 
collections linger in the memory of the writer, of evenings spent 
in Tacubaya, in the society of these agreeable people. We had 
free access, at all hours, to their houses and gardens, billiard 
tables and baths — John Bull manifesting, here, as everywhere, 
the independence which belongs to his character, and not seeming 
to care a whit about what the Mexicans might think of his un- 
equivocal conduct in the premises. He knew that it was sufficient 
for him to say, in imitation of the ancient Roman, " I am an Eng- 
lish citizen," to insure his being respected, in person and property, 
even amidst the wars and revolutions of Mexico ! In Tacubaya, 
we were within about twelve hundred yards of Chapultepec ; the 
flags of the two belligerent armies waved, therefore, in close de- 
fiance of each other, and the report of the morning-gun, and the 
music of the reveille of one camp, were re-echoed by the other. 
From the azotea of the house of one of our friends, we occasionally 
amused ourselves watching the various movements of our enemies, 
as they relieved pickets, sentinels, etc. ; the very colors of their 
uniforms, and an indistinct outline of their features being percepti- 
ble through our glasses. At night, the " all's well" of the Ameri- 
can sentinel, was responded to by the " alerta" of the Mexican. 

In order that the thread of my narrative of our future opera- 
tions may not be hereafter broken, I must beg the reader's per- 
mission to anticipate events, by a few days, that I may take a 
passing notice of a sad tragedy which was performed in the camps 
of generals Pillow and Twiggs — the former quartered in Miscoac, 
and the latter in San Angel. The reader will recollect the hopes 



316 



GENERAL SCOT'f's CAMPAIGN 



entertained in the beginning of the war, by the Mexican chiefs, 
of large desertions from our army, and the exertions made by 
them, by the issue of seductive proclamations and addresses, to 
bring about this result. These delusive hopes were inspired by a 
number of miscreants, who had deserted at different periods — 
mostly during the war — and gone over to the enemy, filling his 
greedy ears with the most extravagant stories of the disaffection 
and disorder prevalent in the American camp. Twenty-seven of 
these persons were captured in the fortress of San Pablo, at Chu- 
rubusco, and others at other points. They had been enrolled in 
a battalion composed of foreigners, called the battalion of San 
Patricio, and had served the enemy's artillery, with great success. 
They fought like devils, in the tete de pont, and San Pablo, and 
shot down some of the officers under whom they had formerly 
served, and whom they recognized as they advanced at the heads 
of the different storming parties. It was these prisoners about 
whom Santa Anna was so solicitous, when he instructed his com- 
missioners for negotiating the peace, to demand their being de- 
livered up to him. They were tried — to the number of fifty — by 
a court-martial, of which the veteran Colonel Riley was president, 
and all found guilty, and condemned to be hanged. General 
Scott commuted the sentence of three of them, who had deserted 
previous to the war ; two, who were recommended to mercy by 
the court, and four others, in whose favor there appeared some 

mitio'atincr circumstances. All the rest were executed in COn- 
cs o 

formity with their sentence. These executions, which would have 
been proper at any time, were peculiarly so now, as we were in 
the midst of the enemy's country, with a desperate struggle be- 
fore us, and with greatly inferior forces ; there were many for- 
eigners in our ranks ; some of them not even naturalized citizens, 
and the enemy was making every effort still, to entice them away. 
The salvation of the army might depend upon an example being 
made of these dishonored and dishonorable men, and General 
Scott had the firmness to make it. The brave Irish, who remained 
faithful to us, and who were always among the foremost, and 
most devoted of our troops, were more rejoiced at this event than 
the native-born Americans even, as they had felt keenly the 
stigma which this conduct of their countrymen had cast upon them. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



317 



Let us now pursue the events of the campaign ; and first of all, 
let us east a glance at our condition, after having been now thirty- 
days in the great valley of Mexico, in which events of such vast 
moment, as I have described, followed each other in such rapid 
succession. We had made the masterly movement around Chalco, 
had fought the battles of Contreras, San Antonio, and Churu- 
busco, and had reached a new base of operations at Tacubaya. 
But with the exception of turning the Penon and Mexicalcingo, 
and forcing the pass of Contreras, what had we accomplished ? 
Nothing. We had turned aside from our road, to fight the battles 
of San Antonio and Churubusco, without results ; nay, more, 
with bad results, as we had lost eleven hundred men ; more than 
one tenth our whole force. We were in Tacubaya, it is true, but 
the reader has seen, that after forcing the pass of Contreras, it 
was not necessary to have fired a single musket, to accomplish 
this. And then, after we had made the mistake of assaulting and 
carrying a fortress which, when once isolated, would have been 
of no more use to the enemy, than if it had been in mid-ocean, 
we had failed to take advantage of a state of things which had 
not been foreseen, when the battle was commenced, and of which, 
if we had availed ourselves, we might have entered the city of 
Mexico. We had thus thrown away eleven hundred men to no 
purpose ; and after having humiliated ourselves, first, to beg a 
truce — officially — and then to beg a peace, which the enemy not 
only refused us, but refused us insultingly; we had all our work 
to do over again, with crippled and reduced means ! I know it is 
easier to criticise a campaign, after it has been made, than to con- 
ceive and execute it properly, and unquestionably great allowance 
must be made on this score ; but still, I think the reader must 
acknowledge, that with every indulgence, great errors were com- 
mitted — errors, which, a priori, he would not have been inclined 
to impute to General Scott. 

But errors have not yet ceased, as the reader will perceive. 
We have, as yet, but penetrated the enemy's outer line of de- 
fenses. He beards us with an immense city, in which every 
house is a fortification, and the approach to which must necessa- 
rily be over causeways swept by cannon. Napoleon, when speak- 
ing of the siege of Valencia, in Spain, by Moncey, in which the 



318 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



latter was beaten off, says, "a city with 80,000 inhabitants, barri- 
caded streets, and artillery placed at the gates, cannot be taken by 
the collar but this was precisely what we had to do, with regard 
to Mexico, with 200,000 inhabitants. There were four principal 
garitas or gates of the city, on the side on which we were operating — 
from south to west — to wit, the gate of San Antonio, that of the Nino 
Perdido, that of Belen, and that of San Cosme. The first stood 
at the entrance into the city of the great causeway of San Anto- 
nio, leading direct from San Augustin, and passing through 
Churubusco ; the second commanded the causeway leading into 
the city, from a point a short distance this side of San Angel ; the 
third commanded the causeway leading from Chapultepec into 
the city; and the fourth, that of San Cosme, leading from Tacuba, 
and joined also by another causeway from Chapultepec. The 
ground between these several causeways was low and marshy, 
and in the rainy season — in which we were operating — partially 
inundated by detached pools of water. It was, therefore, imprac- 
ticable. Several cross-roads passed from one causeway to 
another ; sometimes two or more of these entering the city, at or 
near the same gate. These various approaches were cut from 
point to point, and were defended by breastworks and artillery. 
In addition to the batteries which commanded the direct ap- 
proaches, other batteries were placed on the flanks of these, so 
as to fire across the road, and at the same time, upon the flanks 
and rear of the first batteries, when these should be carried. 
Each city-gate was a fortress, and the walls of the city were sur- 
rounded by wet ditches of great width and depth, constructed for 
the purpose of drainage, and now coming conveniently into play 
for defense. Other ditches and dikes, which had been constructed 
for a like purpose, extended in various directions, in the neighbor- 
hood of the city, and crossed and recrossed each other in a con- 
fused net-work. Every foot of this ground, at all approachable, 
had been taken possession of by the enemy, and fortified by 
breastworks and artillery. As we rode over these various posi- 
tions, after the capture of the city, we were struck with amazement 
at the strength of the whole, and at the vast amount of labor 
which had been done, in the two or three preceding months. 
We no longer wondered that Santa Anna had been playing with 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



319 



us, in the farcical proceedings of the armistice, and negotiations 
for peace, and that he had been sanguine of being able to defend 
himself. 

On the 7th of September, the day after that on which General 
Scott had written his letter to Santa Anna, requiring of him an 
apology for violating the armistice ; it was reported to the former, 
that the enemy w^as showing himself, in some force, on the neigh- 
boring heights around Chapultepec and Molino del Key. It has 
been remarked, that the bishop's palace, where General Scott was 
quartered, stood on the crest of a hill overlooking the village of 
Tacubaya, and commanding an extensive prospect of the valley. 
From the azotea of this building, General Worth, accompanied by 
several members of his staff, and General Scott, accompanied in 
like manner, reconnoitered the enemy's movements — having a 
good view of them. The two generals discussed very freely the 
probable object and intentions of the enemy, and stated the con- 
clusions at which they respectively arrived. General Worth 
thought the enemy designed to offer, or invite a general battle, 
and advised General Scott to attack him with all his disposable 
force, before he should have time to complete his arrangements. 
But General Scott thought differently, informing General Worth, 
that Molino del Rey was a foundery in active operation, busily 
engaged in casting guns and shot, boring cannon, etc., and stated 
that, no doubt, this display of force was intended to protect 
these operations ; the enemy being much in want, as he had been 
informed, of materiel. We could see none of the evidences of 
Molino del Rey being a foundery, there being no smoke apparent, 
nor indeed any chimney from which smoke could issue. We 
were quite near enough too, to have heard the sound of machinery, 
if there had been any in operation. Nevertheless, as General 
Scott spoke positively, General Worth did not contradict him. It 
was understood, that Mr. Trist, who spoke the language, had got 
the information from some confidential Mexican sources, and that 
there could be no doubt about the facts. General Scott, deeming 
the destruction of the foundery of importance to his future opera- 
tions, directed Worth with his division, in a careless, off-hand 
manner, to " brush away" the enemy, under cover of the coming 
night, cripple the machinery, spike or destroy the guns, and then 



320 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



withdraw his troops to Tacubaya. I am particular in describing 

these circumstances, as General Scott's coup de main, to destroy 
the enemy's supposed foundery, proved to be the bloodiest and 
hardest fought battle of the campaign. General Worth forthwith 
addressed himself to the performance of his task. He caused the 
ground to be twice reconnoitered during the day, first by Captain 
Mason, of the engineers, alone, and then by this officer in company 
with Colonel Duncan. Two more talented and accomplished mili- 
tary men were not to be found in the army. These reconnoissances 
were pushed with a boldness bordering on temerity; and all the 
information concerning the position, and numbers, and defenses 
of the enemy, which it was possible to obtain "imder the circum- 
stances, was obtained. General Worth, who had been satisfied 
from the beginning, by his own observation (confirmed by these 
reconnoissances), that the enemy had other objects in view, in 
making his demonstration, than the protection of the foundery, was 
apprehensive that the work might be too heavy for his division 
unsupported ; and to provide against contingencies, requested that 
he might be reinforced ; which request was granted, and Cadwal- 
lader's brigade was brought up from Miscoac, and ordered to join 
him. With a soundness of military judgment, which was afterward 
verified by the event, and much applauded in the army, he re- 
solved to take up his position in the night, but to vary the order 
of the commander-in-chief so far, as to delay his attack until day- 
light. Assembling around him his chief officers, who were to 
take important parts in the coming engagement, he explained to 
them his plan of attack, illustrating his contemplated movements 
by the map and by a sketch which had been prepared by Captain 
Mason. It was a fine sight to see these noble fellows bending 
over the table around their distinguished chief, in eager examina- 
tion of the various points they were to assault, and receiving their 
orders from his lips with a deference to his military abilities, which 
did both them and him so much honor. It is only necessary to 
mention the names of Garland, Clarke, Mcintosh, Scott, C. F. 
Smith, and Duncan, to show how much talent surrounded that 
table; and to show, alas! that some of the brave fellows, who 
were there assembled, met a soldier's death the next day before ten 
o'clock, on the battle-field. General Worth having sketched his 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



321 



plan of battle, and made each of his subordinates, not only ac- 
quainted with his particular part, but with the whole, in order 
that he might act the more understandingly, retired for the night, 
being quite unwell. 

Soon afterward, the ordnance officer, in charge of the heavy 
guns for the morrow, came to General Worth's quarters, and in- 
formed several officers there present, that he was directly from 
General Scott, to whom he had explained General Worth's dispo- 
sitions, and that he (General Scott), disapproved them, saying 
that General Worth must have misunderstood or disregarded his 
instructions, as he intended the attack to be made in the night, 
and the troops to be withdrawn to Tacubaya before daylight. 
Instead of communicating this intelligence to General Worth, now 
asleep, it was deemed advisable that an officer should go to Gen- 
eral Scott, and state to him, again, what General Worth's disposi- 
tions were, and the reasons which had influenced him, in making 
them ; in order that there might be no misunderstanding on the 
part of General Scott, in relation to the approaching operations. 
This was accordingly done. The officer found General Scott at 
supper, with several other officers present ; the subject of his visit 
was immediately taken up, and discussed, in length and breadth, 
by General Scott, who stated, that from the most reliable sources, 
he had positive information, that Molino del Rev was a foundery, 
in full blast, casting o-uns and shot, from bells taken from the 
churches, in the city ; that our recent captures had so crippled the 
enemy, in 'materiel, that many of his works were without guns to 
defend them, and that he was bending his whole energy to supply 
this important deficiency. General Scott also discussed, at length, 
the subject of military night attacks, saying all that anybody 
could say in favor of them, and a great deal more than sound 
military theory could approve, or experience illustrate. The prin- 
cipal, if not the only argument he urged against an attack by 
daylight, was, that our troops would be exposed to the "destruc- 
tive fire from Chapultepec." After having exhausted this side 
of the question, he took up the other side for discussion. His 
principal arguments on this side, were, 1st, that it was at least 
possible that the work might prove more difficult, than was antici- 
pated ; 2d, that our artillery lire, which, in daylight, would be of 



322 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



great value, in the night would be useless, and might prove worse 
than useless ; 3d, that all experience showed, that artillery fire 
from elevated positions, need not be dreaded, and Cerro Gordo 
and Monterey were cited to illustrate that Chapultepec would ex- 
ercise, but little influence in the battle. This proved to be the 
fact; we did not lose a single man from the fire of this fortress! 
General Worth's order of battle was again laid before, and ex- 
plained to, General Scott, by the accomplished officer who had 
undertaken this duty, and it was approved in every particular, 
except the following: — Worth had ordered Garland, with his 
brigade, in case circumstances favored the movement, to follow up 
the blow on Molino del Rey, and make a lodgement in the grove, 
at the base of Chapultepec, with a view to facilitate an assault 
upon this work, should it become necessary, or be thought advisa- 
ble. This, General Scott disapproved, decidedly, and ordered the 
officer who had waited upon him, to return to General Worth, and 
inform him that it was his (General Scott's) positive instructions, 
that no matter how tempting the opportunity might be, not to make 
any demonstration toward Chapultepec ; that from all the informa- 
tion he had received, his line of attack upon the city would be to the 
right of Chapultepec, and that once in the city, Chapultepec would 
fall, by its own weight. (How many valuable lives might have 
been spared, if he had so reasoned with regard to Churubusco ? ) 
General Scott's instructions on this point, as well as his approval 
on others, were duly communicated to General Worth, the same 
night, and the battle was fought the next morning, in that soldier- 
like style, which must forever challenge the admiration of the 
historian. To corroborate the above statements, with regard to 
the intent with which the battle of Molino del Rey was fought, 
which intent is already beginning to be disputed or explained 
away, by General Scott's friends, I quote from this officer's own 
dispatch, upon this point. It must be recollected that this dispatch 
was written on the 11th of September, four days after the above 
conversation took place, and when subsequent reconnoissances 
had caused him to waver, somewhat, in his original determination 
of entering the city by one of the causeways, to the right of Cha- 
pultepec, thus leaving this fortress, in the rear, to "fall by its own 
weight." He writes to the secretary of war, as follows — "The 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



323 



same afternoon [7th] a large body of the enemy was discovered, 
hovering about the Molinos del Rey, within a mile and a third of 
this village, where I am quartered with the general staff, and 
Worth's division. It might have been supposed that an attack 
upon us was intended ; but knowing the great value of those mills 
[Molinos del Rey], containing a cannon-foundery, with a large 
deposit of powder, in Casa-Mata, near them ; and having heard, 
two days before, that many church-bells had been sent out to be 
cast into guns, the enemy's movement was easily understood, and 
I resolved at once to drive him, early the next morning [having 
abandoned his project of anight attack, as we have seen], to seize 
the powder and destroy the foundery. Another motive for this 
decision — leaving the general plan of attack upon the city, for full 
reconnoissances — was, that we knew our recent captures had left 
the enemy not a fourth of the guns necessary to arm, all at the 
same time, the strong works at each of the city gates ; and we 
could not cut the communication between the foundery and the 
capital, without first taking the formidable castle on the heights 
of Chapultepec, which overlooked both, and stood between. For 
this difficult operation, we were not entirely ready, and moreover, 
we might altogether neglect the castle, if, as we then hoped, our 
reconnoissances should prove that the distant southern approaches 
to the city, were more eligible than this south-western approach." 
The reader has now sufficient evidence before him, to convince 
him that the battle of Molino del Rey was conceived and fought, 
without the least reference to any subsequent attack on Chapulte- 
pec, and as a military operation it must stand or fall, by this cir- 
cumstance. So far from its having been regarded as the incident, 
and Chapultepec as the principal, the case was reversed ; Molino del 
Rey was the principal object to be assaulted, and Chapultepec was 
regarded as a mere incident in the plan of attack. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Battle of Molino del Rey — Order of battle — Desperate charges of Wright 
and Mcintosh — Great slaughter that ensued — Duncan's light artillery re- 
pulses a charge of the enemy's horse — Piercing the enemy's center, and 
carrying of the Molino — Fall of the Casa-Mata — Total rout of the enemy — 
Reflections upon this battle — Its consequences — Bombardment and storm- 
ing of Chapultepec. 

Having thus fixed the responsibility of this battle — a responsi- 
bility, which if it had not been saved, in part, by the southern 
approaches to the city proving more difficult than was believed, 
and thus throwing the commander-in-chief, in spite of himself 
back upon Chapultepec, as will be hereafter seen, would have 
been grave, indeed — let us proceed to show the masterly manner 
in which Worth obeyed the orders of his chief. The reconnois- 
sances of the engineers showed that the enemy's left rested on a 
group of strong stone buildings (El Molino), at the western slope 
of Chapultepec, and about half a mile from the base of the hill ; 
that the rio-ht of his line rested on another stone-buildinp\ called 
Casa-Mata (a Spanish word, from which we derive our word 
" casemate, " used in fortification, to express a covered archway, 
or embrasure, in which a piece of artillery is mounted), situated 
at the foot of the ridge, that slopes gradually down from the 
heights above the village of Tacubaya, to the plain below, and 
distant from the first building about one-third of a mile ; that these 
two buildings were more or less connected by irregular dikes, 
planted with the maguey, affording excellent cover for infantry ; 
and that the enemy's field-battery occupied a position, midway 
between the two buildings, supported by infantry, on either flank, 
lying 'perdue behind the dikes. Both Molino del Rey and Casa- 
Mata were filled with infantry, the long azotea of the Molino. in 
particular, affording them an excellent position from which to pick 
off our troops as they advanced. The militarv reader perceives 
(324 ) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



325 



of course, that the weak point of the enemy's position, as here 
described, was his center. Worth's order of battle was as 
follows : — Garland's brigade was ordered to take position on the 
right (our right), strengthened by two pieces of Drum's battery, 
to look to El Molino, as well as to any support which might be 
attempted to be sent to this position from Chapultepec, under 
whose guns it partially was. This brigade was to place itself 
also, so as to be within supporting distance of Huger's battery, 
of twenty-four-pounders, which was directed to take position on a 
ridge between Tacubaya and El Molino, within about six hundred 
yards of the latter, which it was designed to shake somewhat, 
previous to the assault. An assaulting party of five hundred 
picked men and officers under Major Wright, of the 8th infantry 
(Worth's own regiment), was posted on the ridge, to the left of 
the battering guns, to force the enemy's center. Mcintosh's brig- 
ade (Colonel Clarke, its regular commander, being sick), with 
Duncan's battery, was assigned to a position still farther to the 
left, opposite the enemy's right, to look to our left flank, to sustain 
the assaulting column of Wright, if necessary, or to attack the ene- 
my himself (the ground being favorable), as circumstances might 
require. Thus, to recapitulate briefly, the enemy's left, center, 
and right, were opposed, respectively, by Garland, Wright and 
Mcintosh ; Huger being with Garland, and Duncan with Mcin- 
tosh. Cadwallader's brigade was held in reserve, in the rear of 
our line, and within easy supporting distance of any part of it. 
I invite criticism by the military reader, of these arrangements, 
conscious that the,y will stand the test of the severest scrutiny. 
They were carried out in the deadly conflict which ensued, with 
coolness and courage, and resulted in the complete, though bloody 
triumph of our arms, against overwhelming numbers. The new 
combinations which became necessary in the moment of battle, 
and which no man can foresee, were made by General Worth, on 
this occasion, with that quickness of perception, and celerity of 
thought, which distinguish the truly military man from the soldier 
of the closet. 

We were astir, at head-quarters, at half-past two, a. m., on the 
morning of the memorable 8th, and the various columns being report- 
ed ready, they were put in motion at about three, on their respective 



826 



G£2sLKAL BCXMPP'S CAMPAIGN 



routes. It was not yet light, as we moved out of Tacubaya ; but 
the troops took up their positions, with the utmost precision, ac- 
cording to the order of battle, without the slightest mistake bein^ 
made. We, of the staff, rode along in silence, the general only 

exchan^ino- an occasional word with the engineer, as to the route ; 
© © © ? 1 

we seemed to have a sort of presentiment of the bloody tragedy 
which was to be enacted. The night was perfectly clear, but 
without moon, and the sun afterward rose in all his glory, over 
the battle-field, to light up the work of carnage and death. At 
the earliest appearance of dawn in the east, Huger opened with his 
heavy pieces, which, for awhile, gave forth the only sounds that 
broke in upon the perfect silence of the field. Chapultepec 
seemed fast asleep, and it was some minutes before it could be 
aroused into returning our fire. When Hu^er had fired a few 

© o 

rounds at Molino, and this place was supposed to be somewhat 
shaken, Wright, with his storming party — under the guidance of 
Mason and Foster — rushed gallantly forward to assault, and pierce 
the enemy's center. He was met by a most appalling fire of 
musketry, and grape and canister, which at once revealed to 
General Worth, the formidable numbers he had opposed to him. 
Nothing daunted, however, he rushed on, driving infantry and 
artillerymen, at the point of the bayonet, but at terrible loss. — 
The ground, as before remarked, formed a gradual slope down to 
the enemy's lines, and it was down this slope (forming a slightly 
inclined plane) that our brave fellows were compelled to march, 
without so much as a twig to shelter them ; while the enemy lay 
concealed behind the dikes, and maguey plants, or was protected 
by the wails and parapets (around the ozotea.) of the Molino. — 
The enemy's field-battery was taken and the guns immediately 
trained upon his retreating masses. Before, however, they could 
be discharged, the enemy, perceiving that he had been dispos- 
sessed of this strong position, by a mere handful of men, rallied, 
and returned to the charge, aided by a tremendous fire of mus- 
ketry, from the troops in and on the top of the Molino — within 
pistol shot. Eleven out of the fourteen officers who composed the 
command — the gallant major and his two engineers among the 
number — were shot down by this murderous fire ; and the rank 
and file suffered in proportion. The remainder were of necessity 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



327 



driven back, and the enemy regained possession of his pieces, 
bayoneting the wounded, with a savage delight ! This was a criti- 
cal moment with us ; and the fine military face of our chief, now 
compressed into sternness, exhibited more anxiety than I had 
ever before seen upon it. His division, and particularly the regi- 
ment he loved so much, was being cut in pieces before his eyes, 
but there was no help for it ; his soldier's heart told him, that 
the battle, now that we were in it, must be won, at every sacrifice, 
or our morale would be gone, and in this lay our chief power.* 
He did not once think of falling back, therefore, but ordered 
Smith's light battalion — which had been so terribly cut up, at 
Churubusco, and was now under the command of Captain Kirby 
Smith, the gallant lieutenant-colonel being- sick — and the right 
wing of Cadwallader's brigade to advance, promptly to the sup- 
port of the repulsed storming party. This order was executed in 
gallant style, and the enemy (being now hard pressed by Gar- 
land, on his left) gave way in the center, and his battery was 
captured a second time. 

In the meantime, Garland's brigade, sustained by the battery 
of the gallant Captain Drum, assaulted the enemy's left, and 
after an obstinate and severe contest, drove him from the strong 
works of the Molino. The battering guns under Captain Huger, 
were now advanced to the captured position, and were opened, 
together with the enemy's own guns, on his broken and retreat- 
ing forces. While these operations were progressing, on the ene- 
my's left and center, Duncan's battery opened on his right, and 
the 2d brigade, under Mcintosh, was ordered forward to the as- 
sault of this point. The direction of this brigade, soon caused it 
to mask Duncan's battery — the fire of which, for a moment, was 
discontinued — and the brigade moved steadily on to the assault 



* The following was Napoleon's maxim on this point : " The glory and 
honor of his arms, is the first point to be considered by a general who offers 
or accepts a battle ; the preservation of his men is a mere secondary con- 
sideration. Indeed, the best means of preserving these, is to contend with 
courage and obstinacy for victory. In a retreat, to say nothing of the loss 
of honor, there are more men lost, than in two battles. A general should, 
therefore, never despair, so long as he has a few valiant men left to bear 
aloft his standards." 



328 



general scott's campaign 



of the Casa-Mata, which, instead of being an ordinary stone house, 
as had been supposed by the engineers, proved to be a citadel, 
surrounded with bastion intrenchinents, and impassable ditches — 
an old Spanish work, recently repaired and enlarged. The recon- 
noissance had been as close as possible, and this mistake as to the 
character of the work, had been unavoidable — the work being 
situated in low ground, and the lower portions of it being masked 
by dikes and maguey plants. While Mcintosh was moving for- 
ward to assault this formidable work, a large body of cavalry (it 
afterward appeared from the official reports of the emeny, that 
there were four thousand of them, under Alvarez) was seen ap- 
proaching us, on our extreme left, as with a view of charging us 
on that flank, or endeavoring to turn and envelop that position. — 
As soon as Duncan's battery was masked, as before described, by 
the interposition of Mcintosh's brigade between him and the 
Casa-Mata, he was ordered to change front, to hold the enemy's 
cavalry in check, which he did rapidly, moving a little farther to 
the left. The Yoltigeurs, under Colonel Andrews, were sent to 
support him ; and Major Sumner, with his two hundred and seven- 
ty dragoons, was ordered also to place himself in position, near 
by, to profit by events, and pursue, if opportunity should invite, 
the enemy's retreating forces. In taking up this position, the gal- 
lant major, in order to avoid some ditches which impeded his 
march, was forced to pass within pistol shot of the Casa-Mata, 
when his command suffered considerablv ; the enemv knocking 
several of his dragoons from the saddle, and the affrighted and 
wounded horses careering wildly over the field. One of the ene- 
my's brigades (two thousand, under Alvarez himself) moved 
boldlv forward (Duncan purposely withholding his fire, to invite it), 
until it had come within good canister range, when the gallant lieu- 
tenant-colonel opened upon it one of those exceedingly rapid and 
terrible fires, for which his battery was so celebrated. The enemy 
could not withstand the shock, but was first checked, and then 
thrown into confusion, the front of his column recoiling in disorder 
upon its center, and this again upon its rear, until the whole mass 
commenced a disorderly retreat. The 2d brigade, under Andra- 
da, which was forming to support Alvarez, was involved in the 
disorder and retreat of the 1st, and the whole four thousand horse 



IN THE VALLE1" OF MEXICO. 



329 



disappeared from the field. While Duncan was in the midst of 
these operations, General Worth dispatched an aid-de-camp to 
him, to direct him to be "sure to hold the enemy's cavalry in 
check" — to this message, this prince of artillery officers returned 
(scarcely taking his eye from his pieces) the following character- 
istic reply : " Tell General Worth to make himself perfectly easy, 
I can whip twenty thousand of them !"* 

Let us now return to Mcintosh, whom we left advancing upon 
the Casa-Mata. As his gallant brigade came within easy musket 
range, the enemy opened a most destructive fire upon him, cut- 
ting down officers and men in fearful profusion. But Mcintosh 
was a man whom danger never daunted, and he moved on amid 
this storm of balls until he was cut down mortally wounded. The 
brigade, under the lead of the gallant Martin Scott, continued on, 
however, until it reached the very slope of the parapet that 
surrounded the citadel. By this time Scott himself was shot 
dead ; his next in command, Major Waite, was knocked down, 
badly wounded, and a large proportion of the gallant fellows were 
destroyed. A momentary recoil, and some disorder ensued, and 
the remainder of the brigade now fell back for support upon Dun- 
can's battery, which, having repulsed the enemy's horse, as we have 
seen, had by this time returned to its former position. Duncan 
being now at liberty to renew his fire, opened again upon the 

* Previous to the war, the Mexican cavalry had been the boast of the na- 
tion. It formed a large proportion of the Mexican army, and was composed 
chiefly of lancers. General Waddy Thomson, who, when our minister in 
Mexico, had seen some choice corps of it maneuver, has paid it a high com- 
pliment, in his "Reminiscences of Mexico." These commendations proved 
to have been wholly unmerited, as the cavalry turned out to be the most 
worthless portion of the Mexican army. Although the men were, individually, 
good horsemen, either for the want of proper leading, or of proper organiza- 
tion, they never could be brought to the charge, in masses. Our infantry, 
after a little, came to hold them in so much contempt, that it never thought 
of forming itself, in square, to resist a charge. But neither men nor officers 
were wholly to blame for this inefficiency. Their horses were too light. — 
According to the maxim of the great Frederic, of Prussia, the spur, in a 
charge of cavalry, is of more importance than the sabre; but the spur could 
not give momentum to men mounted on ponies. The Mexican lancer makes 
a capital vidette, and would be formidable in the rear of a retreating army, 
but for front operations, in masses, is entirely useless. 
28 



330 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



Casa-Mata, with a furor, if I may so express it, inspired by the 
bloody repulse of Mcintosh ; and in a few minutes, thereafter, we 
had the satisfaction of seeing the enemy abandon this strong- 
hold, and betake himself to flight, over the fields, where it was 
impossible to pursue him, both on account of Chapultepec, and 
of the broken character of the ground. The enemy was now en- 
tirely routed, having been driven from every point of his lines, 
which he had defended with more courage and obstinacy, than we 
had seen him display during any previous battle of the campaign. 

Instead of " brushing away" the enemy, as General Scott had 
intended, we had fought a most desperate and bloody battle, with 
a force which, as was feared by General Worth from the begin- 
ning, was entirely inadequate to the undertaking. With three 
thousand men, including reinforcements, we had assaulted and 
driven from strong positions, a force of fourteen thousand, under 
command of Santa Anna himself, assisted by his ablest generals. 
But what will be the reader's surprise (if he has not already an- 
ticipated me), when I inform him that the object for which all 
this blood had been shed, never had any existence, except per- 
haps in the insidious and interested tales of Mexican spies, and 
in the imaginations of General Scott and Mr. Trist. Upon reach- 
ing the Molino, which was no molino — mill — at all, no vestige 
could be found of furnace, tools, or any other apparatus for the cast- 
ing of cannon ; and as for the church-bells, these rang forth, that 
same night, merry peals, in the city of Mexico, in honor of Santa 
Anna's triumph. This chief, supposing we meant to follow up our 
attack, on the Molino (as General Worth had, in fact, proposed to 
General Scott), by an assault on Chapultepec, and finding that 
we did not do so, very naturally concluded, and so stated in his 
bulletin, that we had been checked. When the battle was all 
over, General Scott rode out on the field, and complimented Gene- 
ral Worth, for the gallant and soldier-like manner in which he 
had executed his work ; which the latter received courteously, but 
with a clouded brow, and a troubled heart, as he had lost the 
flower of his division, and some of his most devoted friends, in 
the ill-advised contest. Having been directed to withdraw our 
troops to Tacubaya, wagons were sent for, and the mournful task 
was commenced, of collecting our dead and wounded, which 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



331 



occupied us for several hours — the enemy, all the while, firing at 
us from Chapultepec, and particularly at the wagons, although 
he could see, most plainly, what was going on ; an instance of 
barbarism but seldom recorded of civilized armies. Our loss 
amounted to nine officers killed, forty-nine wounded, and seven 
hundred and twenty-nine, rank and file, killed and wounded ; 
making in all, seven hundred and eighty-seven ! or a little more 
than one-fourth of the whole command. Out of a force of but 
little more than one-half the numerical strength of General Tay- 
lor's army, we had had more men killed or wounded, in about forty 
minutes, than had been killed or wounded in the two glorious 
days of Buena Vista. The most bloody charge on record, is that 
which was made by the 23d regiment of English dragoons, at 
Talavera, in which they left one -half their number on the field, 
killed or wounded. Wright's charge on the enemy's center, was 
even more bloody than this, as eleven out of the fourteen officers 
who belonged to the command, were cut down, and the men suf- 
fered very nearly in the same proportion ! The only modern bat- 
tle which occurs to my mind, in which one of the belligerents lost 
more men, in proportion to the whole number engaged, than we did, 
in this contest, was the battle of Medellin, on the Guadiana, in 
which Marshal Victor defeated the Spanish general, Cuesta. In 
that battle, the Spaniards lost three-fifths of their whole number, 
but most of them were cut down in pursuit, and not as our noble 
fellows were, in desperate charges against the enemy's for- 
tified lines. The enemy's loss, in killed and wounded, as we 
learned from prisoners, and other sources, could not have been 
short of one thousand five hundred. We made ei^ht hundred 
prisoners. 

Kendall, of the Picayune, before spoken of, joined us in this 
battle, as did also, Major Borland, since become a distinguished 
senator from the state of Arkansas. My former messmate, Har- 
gous, with Captain Wyse (an American and formerly a captain in 
the Mexican navy), came also gallantly to the rescue. General 
Worth speaks as follows, in his report, of all these gentlemen : 
" And I desire to express my particular obligations to Major 
Borland, Arkansas volunteers, lately a prisoner of war ; G. W. 
Kendall, Esq., of Louisiana; Captain Wyse, and Mr. Hargous, 



332 



GENERAL SCOTT H 



army agent, who came upon the field, volunteered their accept- 
able services, and conducted themselves, in the transmission of 
orders, with conspicuous gallantry." 

On the day after the battle (the 9th), the honored dead were 
interred with the rites of war, on the heights of Tacubaya. A 
large trench was dug, in which the bodies were ::-.re:Y.i" and af- 
fectionately placed by the messmates of the deceased, r 
been first followed to the ground by a mournful procession, with 
funeral music, and flags enshrouded in crape. The service of the 
Episcopal church was read in an impressive tone < General Worth, 
surrounded by a numerous cortege of officers, bending low and 
uncovered, to listen to the solemn admonitions of the chaplain), 
and at the words " dust to dust," the sappers and miners, who 
were in attendance with their spades, covered up from the view 
of their brethren, forever, another holocaust to the angry passions 
of mankind. The enemy's battlements of Chapultepec were 
crowded with spectators, looking forth upon the solemn scene, 
which a bright sunlight rendered quite distinct to them, and our 
minute-guns, as they were nrei from time to time, were echtei 
(as we fancied, angrily) by the rocky heights on which the for- 
midable old castle was seated. But we took our revenge. 

2so battle of the war has been so little understood as this battle 
of Molino del Rev. Although it was, as the reader has seen, the 
most sanguinary struggle that ever took place on the American 
continent, and one in which great valor and great military talents 
were displayed, it was preceded and followed by events of such 
magnitude as comparatively to overshadow it. titer causes, too, 
contributed to withhold it from the notice of the people, or t: pre- 
sent it to them in an imperfect light. General Scoti gttVtt it but 
little prominence in his report, for reasons which the reader has 
not failed to perceive. While he had originated it in error, and 
caused it to be fought, with inadequate forces, for an object which 
had no existence, a rival general, whose fame was rapidly cul- 
minating, and whom he had already begun to regard with a feel- 
ing of jealousy and dislike, had covered himself with glory in 
executing his orders — a glory which will shine ill the more efful- 
gentlv for these causes, when the mists of prejudice and misrep- 
resentation shall have passed away. Wh • - sr-fr.. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



333 



how unfavorable a light the " truth of history'' would represent 
this famous battle, for the chief of the campaign, interested writers 
in and about general head-quarters, undertook to "set history 
right" on the subject. They sought to show that it should have 
been a mere "brushing away" operation, instead of a great bat- 
tle ; and that much of the loss which ensued, was attributable to 
Worth's not having sufficient artillery on the ground. Let us en- 
deavor to fix the responsibility of this, as we have done that of 
the orio-in of the battle. The reader has seen the difference of 

o 

opinion as to the probable magnitude of the impending operation, 
which existed between General Scott and General Worth ; the 
former regarding it as a mere coup de main, for the capture of cer- 
tain cannon molds and church-bells, and the latter regarding it 
as a general battle. General Scott designed, at first, that Worth 
should operate with his own division only, but upon application 
of the latter, afterward reinforced him with Cadwallader's brigade, 
and Drum's battery. The officer, who, as has been stated, waited 
on General Scott, to explain to him Worth's order of battle, laid 
stress on the necessity of these reinforcements ; when General 
Scott replied to him, "that whatever work was to be done, must 
be done by Worth with the means he had placed at his disposal ; 
and if he called upon him for more, he would do a very foolish 
thing." It is well known by many officers of the army, that, 
although we had captured a good deal of artillery and ammuni- 
tion at Contreras, San Antonio, and Churubusco, we had captured 
but few shot suitable for guns of a heavy caliber, and it was ap- 
prehended that, in the then critical state of our affairs, brought 
about by the armistice, we should have use for every pound of 
these in our efforts to reduce the city. It was probably this con- 
sideration, amono- others, which induced General Scott to assign 
so little artillery to Worth. No amount of artillery would have 
obviated the necessity of Wright's charge on the enemy's center, 
for at that point we had a formidable battery opposed to us, which 
it was necessary to carry; and we have seen, that during Mcin- 
tosh's charge on the Casa-Mata, Duncan's battery, which might 
have covered and facilitated the charge, was called off to repel an 
overwhelming force of cavalry, that menaced our left and rear. 
This latter was the only point, then, at which Ave felt the want of 



334 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



another battery — Drum and Huger being still actively engaged 
in other parts of the field — and if we had had one, a part, no 
doubt, of Mcintosh's loss might have been avoided. There is 
another thing to be recollected too, with regard to this charge. 
The engineers, as has been stated, were unavoidably deceived as 
to the character of the work ; and Mcintosh's loss must, therefore, 
be regarded, as one of those chances of war, which no amount 
of talent or ingenuity can guard against or prevent. The great 
battle of Churubusco was fought on a reconnoissance of half an 
hour, while Molino del Rey had been reconnoitered for an entire 
day. 

Although this bloody contest failed to effect the object intended 
by the commander-in-chief, it produced marked results with refe- 
rence to the future success of the campaign. General Scott had 
not had the poor satisfaction, it is true, of receiving even so much 
as a cannon mold, or a church-bell, in exchange for eight hundred 
(in round numbers) gallant men ; but General Worth had gained 
a battle, which broke the power of the enemy more effectually than 
any other battle of the campaign. It was a favorite maxim with 
Napoleon, that " In war, the moral is to the physical power as 
three parts to one." This great lever, the moral power, was put 
into our hands by the noble old hero of Palo Alto, Monterey, and 
Buena Yista, and we had wielded it, as the reader has seen, with 
wonderful effect up to the period of the fatal armistice of Tacu- 
baya. This armistice had been so adroitly procured and managed, 
as to impress the Mexican people and army with the belief, that 
we had asked for it ourselves. They knew very well, that they 
had been beaten at Churubusco, but they asked each other very 
pertinently, if we had not been beaten too ! When they reflected, 
that we had marched from Puebla with but ten thousand men ; 
that we had already lost eleven hundred of these ; and that instead 
of feeling ourselves strong enough to enter the capital, we had 
halted before the gates and demanded a cessation of hostilities, 
they very naturally concluded, that the tide of victory was, at 
length, about to turn in their favor. Their morale, thus finding a 
rallying point, was wonderfully restored, during the seventeen 
days, that the peace negotiations continued. They gained cour- 
age, as the reader has seen, to display their forces in open 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



335 



field, in the neighborhood of Tacubaya and Molino del Rev, as 
if to invite a battle, on the very day on which the armistice was 
terminated. The battle of Molino del Rey broke anew this moral 
power of the enemy, and set it back again to where it had been 
immediately after the battle of Churubusco, and before the unfor- 
tunate armistice had been sprung upon us. When the Mexican 
army, fourteen thousand strong, under the lead of Santa Anna 
himself, intrenched in what it deemed an impregnable position, 
and resting on the giant old fortress of Chapultepec, as a point 
d'appui, found itself beaten by three thousand one hundred men, 
the latter not giving an inch of ground, although one -fourth of 
their number had been destroyed, it lost all courage and all hope 
of further resistance. It began, then indeed, to regard us as 
invincible. 

It is known from indubitable testimony, that two thousand of 
the enemy deserted their colors, that very night ; and I refer the 
reader to General Bravo's dispatch, to show that it was with the 
utmost difficulty, that this officer could retain his garrison in Cha- 
pultepec, from this time onward, until that fortress was carried. 
There is another point in which Fortune (who with her mantle, 
broad as that of charity, covers up so many of the blunders of 
war) favored the commander-in-chief, with regard to this battle. 
The reader has seen that General Worth asked permission to effect 
a lodgment in the grove, intervening between Molino del Rey and 
Chapultepec, with a view to facilitate an attack upon the latter, 
but was refused. He did this because, with that intuitive percep- 
tion, which belonged to him more than to any other man in the 
army, he saw that this was the true point of approach to the city. 
General Scott, at this time, thought otherwise, and was pushing 
his reconnoissances in the south, with the confident expectation 
of finding* a less difficult route in that direction ; intending to let 
Chapultepec "fall by its own weight/' as he expressed it. All 
the engineer force of the army was called into requisition, with this 
view; but after the most diligent examination, General Scott was 
forced to abandon his opinion, and coincide with General Worth. 
This was not until the 11th, however, three days after the battle 
of the cannon molds had been fought. It being resolved to ad- 
vance to the city over the Chapultepec causeway, it became 



336 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



necessary that tills fortress should be carried ; and to carry it, it 
would have been necessary, if Molino del Rey had not already 
been carried, to carry it also. The reader thus perceives how 
easy it is, for the friends of General Scott, to save his military 
reputation, in this particular, by manifesting a little regard for 
the " truth of history," and stating that their chief fought the 
battle of Molino del Rey, as a necessary preliminary to the assault 
of Chapultepec. But to judge of this transaction rightly, as a 
military operation, let us suppose that*General Scott had found, 
as he had hoped, one of the southern approaches to the city more 
practicable than the causeway of Chapultepec, and that, in 
attempting to enter thereby, he had been beaten off for the want 
of the eight hundred brave men, whom he had sacrificed at 
Molino del Rey. What would the world have said of the affair 
of the cannon molds and church-bells in that event ? It will be 
said that this was only a mistake of General Scott. True : that is 
all I mean to charge ; but when mistakes are so pregnant of life 
and death, and of the safety and success of an entire army, a 
general-in-chief should practice all due precaution, and exercise 
his judgment upon facts, under a fearful responsibility. As the 
lion's share of the glory of a campaign belongs to him (how many 
lions soever he may have under him), he should be made, at 
least to bear his own proper share of the blunders. After the 
battle of Molino del Rey, and while the reconnoissances were 
being made, which were to determine our choice of a route, by 
which to enter the city, a perceptible gloom fell upon the army, 
and it began to be whispered, with what truth I know not, that 
one, if not mire of the general officers, was in favor of intrench- 
in^ ourselves where we were, and awaiting reinforcements. Out 
of the ten thousand men, with whom we had entered the valley, 
we had lost nineteen hundred on the field of battle ; very nearly 
a fifth of our whole force. Worth alone had lost out of this num- 
ber, eleven hundred and forty men, his veteran division having 
dwindled, from twenty-six hundred, to about fourteen hundred 
and sixty! Beside these, a large number of sick were in hospital ; 
so that after deducting a necessary guard for the camp and bag- 
gage train, it was found that we could not muster seven thousand 
effectives, with whom, in the words of Napoleon, to take Mexico 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 837 

"by the collar." The dissatisfaction was very great, and men 
began to see and comment upon the mistakes which had been 
made. I do not believe that this despondency extended to the 
rank and file, so as to set back in any degree their morale. The 
officers were too prudent for this. It is due to General Scott to 
state, that he bore himself with great equanimity and firmness 
during this dark period of the campaign, and that he never ap- 
peared to lose confidence or waver, in the least, in his intention 
of forcing the city. Like his great co-laborer in the war, on the 
eve of the battle of Buena Yista, he seemed determined to accom- 
plish his object, or to sacrifice himself and his army. Success 
crowned the efforts of both generals alike, and it is by this stan- 
dard, mainly, that military, as other events, are judged. All the 
chances of war were against them, and if they had been beaten, 
they would have been ruined in the estimation of all military men ; 
but they cast everything boldly upon the "hazard of the die," and 
the die turned up favorably for them. 

There was, in reality, but little occasion, however, for this 
despondency, in the case of General Scott. Worth, at the battle 
of Molino del Rey, had opened for us the passage into the city 
of Mexico, more effectually than was then supposed. It was not 
known, while the powerful castle of Chapultepec was bearding 
us, and apparently defying any attempt to enter the city, that two 
thousand of the enemy had deserted on the night of the 8lh, after 
the battle of Molino del Rey, and that General Bravo was obliged 
to set guards over his garrison, to prevent it from running away, 
in like manner. These facts came to light after the fall of this 
place, and after our comparatively easy entry into the city. In 
short, the morale of the enemy (or three-fifths of his power) was 
broken and gone ; but of this we had no knowledge at the time. 

The reconnoissances being ended, General Scott announced as 
follows, to the secretary of war, his intended change of opera- 
tions. "After a close personal survey of the southern gates, 
covered by Pillow's division, and Riley's brigade, of Twiggs' — 
with four times our number concentrated in our immediate front — 
I determined, on the 11th, to avoid that net- work of obstacles, and 
to seek, by a sudden inversion to the south-west and west [Cha- 
pultepec], less unfavorable approaches." Chapultepec being thus 
29 



838 



GENERAL SCOTT S CAMPAIGN 



selected as the real point of attack, it was resolved to practice a 
feint before the southern gates, in order to deceive the entmv if 
possible (which, with his spies constantly in our camp, it was 
hard to do) as to our intention. For this purpose, on the 11th, 
Quitman was ordered from Coyocan with his division, to join Pil- 
low, by daylight, before these gates; both generals being directed, 
after nightfall, to join General Scott at his head-quarters, at 
Tacubaya (where Worth was still stationed) — leaving General 
Twiggs, with Riley's brigade and Taylor's and Steptoe's batteries, 
to continue the feint. The fortress of Chapultepec, which it 
was now designed to attack, has not yet been described. It 
stands on a rocky and picturesque mound, at the head of the 
causeway of the same name, and within close cannon-range of 
Tacubaya. The waters of lake Tezcoco formerly washed its base, 
and in the days preceding the conquest, it was a favorite resort 
of the unfortunate Montezuma. He had a palace here ; and the 
cypress grove on the west of the hill, through which we fought 
our way to the fortress, afforded him a gloomy, but picturesque 
promenade, in his hours of recreation and retirement. Many of 
the venerable old cypresses, in this grove, which afforded us such 
friendly shelter from the enemy's bails, are three and four fee: in 
diameter, and have probably stood from four to five hundred 
years: like the ''cedars of Lebanon," witnessing the coming and 
going of many generations, and preaching eloquently of the 
nothingness of man. On the north, the hill is entirelv inacces- 
sible, it being a bluff precipice of rock ; and it is surrounded, in 
its other parts, by two massive stone walls with ditches. The 
inner of these walls is from twelve to fifteen feet high* Within 
this wall, and on the apex of the rugged height, stands a tasteful 
and rather elegant building, with dome and colonnades, com- 
manding an extensive view of the citv of Mexico, and the marai- 
ficent valley around. This is. at the same time, the military 
college of the republic, and the citadel of the fortress. Htnce 
proceeds all the science which has taught and prompted the Mexi- 
cans, for so many years past, to make a domestic battle-field of 
their unfortunate country. On the west, the hill descends, by a 
gradual slope, to the grove of cypresses, before described, and it 
was seen at a glance, that this was the side on which to assault it. 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



339 



Previous to the assault, however, it was deemed necessary to 
"shake*' it, in military phrase, with heavy artillery; and for this 
purpose, Lee and Huger were set to work to trace out and establish 
batteries. Four of these were established on opposite sides of the 
hill, and on the 12th they were opened under the gallant Drum, 
Anderson, Hagner, Brooks, Stone, and Andrews ; Quitman's and 
Pillow's divisions, which had been brought up the over-night, as 
the reader has seen, covering. The fire of these batteries was 
continued the whole day, with very perceptible effect. From the 
azotea of General Worth's head-quarters (we, of the 1st, being 
as yet hors du combat) we had an excellent view of these opera- 
tions, and could trace distinctly with our glasses the damage done, 
from time to time, by our skillful artillerists, to the face of the 
building. The enemy's armament consisted of ten pieces of artil- 
lery — seven light, and three battering. The former were soon 
disabled by our fire, and the latter produced but little or no effect 
upon our lines — there not having occurred more than two or three 
casualties during the day. Night put an end to the fire on both 
sides. General Bravo, who had already lost a large portion of 
his garrison by desertion — the entire battalion of Toluca (four 
hundred and fifty), with the exception of twenty-seven men, 
having run off, since the battle of Molino del Hey — says in his 
dispatch, that the morale of his men was much depressed by this 
cannonade, in which he lost a considerable number in killed and 
wounded, and that the desertions continued during the night, 
though in less numbers than before. He sent urgent requests to 
Santa Anna to reinforce him, but the latter failed to do so. On 
the morning of the 13th (the day of the assault), he states his 
force to be as follows : in the cypress-grove, two hundred and fif- 
teen men; in the Glorieta (a redoubt half way up the hill, on the 
west side), and other portions of the lower defenses, three hun- 
dred and seventy-four ; and in the military college, something less 
than two hundred ; so that his whole garrison consisted of about 
seven hundred and eighty, all told. There seems to have been a 
difference of opinion between General Scott and General Santa 
Anna, with respect to the importance of this fortress. While the 
former regarded it as the key to the city, and a sort of turning- 
point of the campaign, the latter treated it as a point of but little 



340 



GENERAL SCOTT's CAMPAIGN 



importance, in his general system of defense. He left it to be 
defended by a feeble garrison, although he had plenty of men at 
his disposal, and seemed to rely almost entirely upon his defenses 
at the city gates. His was, probably, the most correct view of the 
two ; although it was a point on which military men might well 
differ. The fortress commanded the approach to the city, by the 
causeway of the same name, but it was by a plunging fire only, 
from a great elevation, which, even on a road without shelter, 
could have done us but little damage, as the battle of Molino del 
Rev proved ; and this fire, little as it was to be feared, would have 
been rendered entirely harmless, by the shelter afforded our 
troops by the arches and massive pillars of the aqueduct. On 
the San Cosine road its fire would have been nugatory. If it 
had been well defended, it would have cost us half our army to 
carry it ; but fortunately we captured it with but little loss, as the 
reader will perceive, owing to the causes already detailed. 

On the evening of the 11th, a party was dispatched to take 
possession, again, of Molino del Rev, which, as the reader recol- 
lects, General Worth had abandoned on the evening of the 8th, 
by the orders of the commander-in-chief. The enemy made no 
resistance, although it would have been easy for him to have re- 
occupied it on the same evening on which we had abandoned it, 
and to have compelled us to fight the battle over again for its pos- 
session. But General Scott's mistake in not continuing to hold it 
(he intending, at that time, to enter the city by one of the 
southern approaches), was remedied by Worth's having so com- 
pletely destroyed the enemy's morale, that he no longer had cour- 
age for anything. On the evening of the 12th, after the cannon- 
ade above described, Pillow and Quitman were ordered to prepare 
for the assault, on the following morning. The whole army was 
rejoiced to see the latter, who had hitherto been kept guarding 
the rear, at length brought forward, to take an active part in the 
struggle. He had with him the gallant battalion of marines, 
which gained much merited distinction, in the brilliant series of 
events which followed. Worth, with the remainder of his veteran 
division, which, up to this time, had borne the brunt of the cam- 
paign, was ordered to take post near the Molino, with a view to 
support Pillow, who was to charge on this side ; and General 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



341 



Smith, who had so nobly unlocked for us the approaches to the ctiy 
of Mexico, by the victory of Contreras, was ordered to hold himself 
in readiness to support Quitman, who was to advance to the as- 
sault on the south-east, by the Tacubaya road, which debouches 
into the causeway at the eastern base of the fortress. Beside 
supporting Pillow, our division supplied him with an assaulting 
party of two hundred and sixty strong, under command of Cap- 
tain McKenzie, 2d artillery ; and Twiggs' division supplied a simi- 
lar party, under Captain Casey, 2d infantry, to Quitman. 

All necessary arrangements being made, at daylight on the morn- 
ing of the 13th, General Scott ordered his batteries to reopen upon 
Chapul tepee, directing Pillow and Quitman to move forward to the 
assault, upon the cessation of his fire. This occurred about eight 
o'clock, and both generals immediately put themselves in motion. 
Pillow, having driven the enemy from his intrenchments, in front 
of the cypress-grove, by the aid of Magruder's and Reno's batteries, 
pushed forward the Voltigeurs, in two detachments, under Colo- 
nel Andrews, and Lieutenant- Colonel Johnstone, respectively, 
into the grove as skirmishers, closely followed by McKenzie, with 
his storming party, and by the 9th and 15th regiments of infantry. 
Some skirmishing occurred in the wood ; but the enemy gradually 
retired before Andrews' and Johnstone's rifles, and Reno's mount- 
ain howitzers. The grove terminates at the base of the hill, but 
many detached bowlders of rock stood out boldly on the abrupt 
hill-side, and afforded our men partial cover, under which to as- 
cend to the Glorieta ; a redoubt already described as standing about 
half way up the acclivity. They soon gained possession of this, 
not without some loss, however. Among the first to fall was my 
gallant friend Ransom, who was shot dead while leading his regi- 
ment (the 9th) to the assault. His was a brave and noble spirit, 
and the pen pauses involuntarily to pay him this tribute. His 
friends will long mourn him, but perhaps selfishly, as he probably 
met that death, which, if the choice had been left to him (apart 
from the consideration of friends and family), would have been 
most welcome to his soldier's heart. He was born a soldier, edu- 
cated a soldier, and died a soldier. Requiescat in pace. At this 
point, General Pillow having been wounded, and being no longer 
able to lead, our troops were brought to a stand, and were firing 



842 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



from the walls of the Glorieta, and from the cover of the rocks, 
with little or no effect, against the walls of the fortress. If the 
defense had been at all vigorous, we must have been foiled ; but 
General Bravo tells us, that the garrisons of his outposts, instead 
of falling back upon the citadel, as they had been directed, re- 
treated in various directions, and made their escape ; which con- 
duct so disheartened the few men he had with him (less than two 
hundred), that he could scarcely keep his cannoniers at then 
guns. He ordered, too, he says, certain mines to be fired, which 
he had prepared for our destruction ; but when the officer, Don 
Manuel Aleman, who had been charged with this duty, was 
hunted for, he was nowhere to be found ! 

Pillow, when he saw his troops falter, called for Worth's divi- 
sion to reinforce him, telling Worth's Aid, who by the orders of 
his chief had put himself in communication with him, to request 
the latter ** to bring up his whole division, and make great haste, 
or he feared he would be too late." Clarke's brigade of Worth's 
division was immediately dispatched, in conformity with this re- 
quest, and arriving opportunely, followed up the assault ; which 
Pillow's division, seeing how feeble was the defense, had 
by this time renewed. A few gallant officers and men, seizing 
scaling ladders, rushed forward from the Glorieta, and other 
points, where they had been sheltered, and planting them against 
the inner battlements, scaled the walls and possessed themselves 
of the fortress, with but little loss. A company of marines, and 
one of the ]STew York regiment entered nearly at the same moment. 
My friend Passed-Midshipman Rogers, of Pillow's staff, was 
among the foremost of the stormers on this occasion. 

Let us now follow up Quitman, who encountered hotter work 
on the other side of the castle, where Santa Anna had planted 
several batteries, and assembled a large force, to guard the cause- 
way to the city. Quitman's storming parties were composed, be- 
side the reinforcement from Twiggs' division, under Captain 
Casey, of a picked volunteer force, under Captain Reynolds, of 
the marines, and of one hundred and twenty men, under Major 
Twiggs, of the same corps. The road over which he advanced, 
beside being cut, so as to render it nearly impassable, was swept 
by a battery in front, and fired upon in flank, by other batteries 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



S43 



on the causeway. Long lines of infantry lay behind dikes, and 
occupied every other point which afforded them the least shelter. 
It seemed impossible for men to advance in face of such obsta- 
cles ; but the gallant Mississippi an, with his storming parties in 
front, moved forward boldly to the assault. On his left, a short 
distance from the road, there were some stone and adobe houses, 
which afforded him partial shelter, and thither he moved by a 
flank. Between these houses, and the outer wall of the fortress, 
there was a low meadow, intersected by wet ditches, partially co- 
vered from view by long grass. General Shields was directed to 
move obliquely over this meadow, in the direction of the fortress, 
preparatory to the assault ; which he did gallantly, in the face of 
an appalling fire, from which he suffered severely, being himself 
among the wounded. This movement was followed, in like gal- 
lant manner, by Lieutenant- Colonel Geary, of the 2d Pennsylva- 
nians. In the meantime, General Smith, who had been instructed 
to move in reserve on the right flank of the assaulting column, to 
protect it from skirmishers, or more serious attacks in that quar- 
ter, had advanced over the meadow to the right of the road, and 
was threatening to cut the enemy's line (extending toward the 
city), and take him in the rear. All being now ready, at the 
same time that the assaulting parties dashed forward to ascend 
the steep acclivity of the fortress, Smith with his rifles, made a 
rush for the road. The former arrived in time to join in Pillow's 
assault, which by this time had been renewed, as I have stated, 
and the latter gallantly carried one of the enemy's batteries, cutting 
his line, as he had threatened, and possessing himself of the cause- 
way. The gallant Major Twiggs, of the marines, fell, much 
lamented, in the commencement of these operations, while lead- 
ing forward the storming party of his own corps. He was a 
brother of the general of the same name, so often distinguished in 
this war. Thus was carried Chapultepec ; an almo-st impregna- 
ble fortress, which promised us much trouble and great loss, but 
which for the want of morale, on the part of the defense, fell into 
our power almost without a struggle. 



CHAPTEK XYI, 



.Battles or me causeways — Worth's operations on the causeway of San 
Cosine — Quitman's operations on the causeway of Chapultepec — En- 
trance of the army into the city of Mexico — The post of honor given 
to General Quitman on this occasion — Insurrection of the populace — 
Suppression of the insurrection — Santa Anna vacates the presidency 
and expatriates himself — Meeting of the Mexican congress and ratifi- 
cation of peace — Reflections upon the war and its results. 

While Pillow and Quitman had been employed in carrying 
Chapultepec, as described in the last chapter, Worth had not been 
idle. After having dispatched Clarke's brigade, as before stated, 
to the succor of the former, he moved with Garland's brigade, 
Smith's battalion of light-infantry, and Duncan's battery, around 
the north-eastern base of the hill of Chapultepec, with the view of 
holding in check, or attacking, if opportunity offered, the enemy's 
right. He was directed by the general-in-chief, to move cau- 
tiously with his now small command, lest he should be over- 
whelmed by superior numbers. We had not proceeded far, 
before we came upon one of the batteries of the enemy, which had 
been gallantly assailed by Magruder's field-guns, particularly the 
section under Lieutenant Jackson, who had manfully continued at 
his post until he had lost all his horses, and nearly all his men. 
The road was literally choked up with dead men and animals. — 
The enemy's fire ceased soon after our appearance, influenced by 
Garland's movement, who had been deployed over the field to 
the left, and had met and put to flight the enemy's right that 
rested on some scattering huts, in that direction. The gallant 
Colonel Trousdale, since governor of Tennessee, had also pre- 
ceded us on this road, and been hotly engaged with the enemy. 
He was still at the head of his regiment, although badly wounded 
in the arm. Driving the enemy before us, we entered the San 
Cosine" causeway, about the same time that Smith (general) had 
pierced that of Chapultepec. Nothing beyond the capture and 
(344) 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



345 



occupation of Chapultepec, seemed, as yet, to have been thought 
of, or planned by the general-in-chief ; and the several divisions, 
in the absence of orders, were left, for some time, to their own 
discretion. Worth, seeing the importance of following up the 
blow struck at the enemy by the capture of this fortress, did not 
wait for instructions, but pushed forward in pursuit, on the San 
Cosme road. Quitman did the same thing on the Chapultepec 
road. The Chapultepec road runs to the city in a straight line, 
whereas that of San Cosme makes an elbow or angle to the north. 
Both roads are broad avenues, flanked by deep ditches and 
marshy grounds, on either side, and an aqueduct, supported by 
arches of heavy masonry, runs along the middle of each. Each 
causeway thus presents two roads, one on either side of an aque- 
duct ; and the reader perceives at a glance, the facilities afforded 
by such avenues, both for attack and defense. We are mainly in- 
debted to these causeways for our easy access to the city. They 
are thus romantically connected with both " conquests of Mexi- 
co or at least one of them is, that of Chapultepec — San Cosme 
having been built subsequent to the first conquest. Quitman was 
soon met and checked, by a breastwork and ditch thrown across 
the road, which it was impossible to turn, and which he must 
have been compelled to carry, by a front attack at great loss, had 
it not been for the friendly assistance of Worth, who, delaying 
the march of his own division, pushed Duncan boldly forward on 
a cross-road, with a section of his battery, covered by Smith's 
light battalion, to within four hundred yards of the enemy's posi- 
tion, and opened one of those destructive fires upon his flank, and 
rear, which nothing could withstand. The enemy soon gave way, 
and while falling back, in great confusion, Duncan's grape told 
with fearful effect upon his flying ranks. Quitman, who had, at 
the same time been gallantly bearding the work, with a howitzer, 
under Drum, and with Smith's Rifles, followed up his advantage 
with spirit, and fought his way bravely to the gate of Belen, 
which he carried by assault (being among the foremost in the 
assault himself), some hours before Worth entered that of San 
Cosme, as will hereafter be related ; the greater length of Worth's 
route (the road making a detour, as has been before remarked), 
and this assistance rendered our chivalrous rival, delaying conside- 



346 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



rably our advance. The 2d brigade, under Colonel Clarke, now 
joined us, and with our veteran division once once more reunited, 
we moved forward and carried a second battery, and afterward a 
third, both of them strong works, and enfilading the road. The 
enemy had withdrawn his guns, before we reached them, proba- 
bly for the defense of the garita. This brought us to the Campo 
Santo, or English burying-ground (where, afterward, many of 
our gallant dead, who had died in the city, of their wounds, were 
deposited), near which the road and aqueduct bend to the right, 
and proceed in a straight line to the city gate. At this point, the 
general-in-chief came up, with his staff, and instructed General 
Worth to press on, and carry the gate of San Cosme, and, if pos- 
sible, to penetrate to the Alameda. 
The day was now well advanced. 

Soon afterward, General Cadwallader joined us, by the orders 
of the general-in-chief, and Colonel Riley came up, with his bri- 
gade, between eight and nine, p. m., after we had carried the 
garita. The gallant colonel had been kept, all day, before the 
southern gates, to continue the feint which had been begun in that 
quarter, some days before. General Cadwallader was posted, by 
Worth, at the Campo Santo, to hold that point as we advanced, 
and to look to our flanks and rear. A short distance beyond the 
Campo Santo, we came upon another battery ; and some two hun- 
dred and fifty yards farther on, and sustaining it, was the last de- 
fense of the enemy, the garita of San Cosme. The approach to 
these two defenses was in a right line, and the whole space 
was literally swept by grape, canister, and shells, from a heavy 
gun and howitzer ; added to which, severe fires of musketry were 
delivered from the azoteas of the adjacent houses, and churches — 
the road from the Campo Santo to the garita being occupied by a 
straggling village, the stone-walls and flat roofs of the houses of 
which, afforded the enemy great advantages for defense. 

Our advance was here, for the first time, seriously checked ; and 
it became necessary to vary our plan of operations. A glance at 
the localities enabled General Worth so to dispose of his division, 
as to drive the enemy from his positions, almost without loss on 
our part, notwithstanding the formidable preparations for defense. 
With the speed of thought, Garland was thrown to the right (his 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



847 



brigade within, and masked by the aqueduct), and instructed to 
dislodge the enemy from the buildings in his front, and endeavor 
to reach and turn the left of the garita, taking advantage of such 
cover as might offer, to enable him to effect these objects. Clarke's 
brigade was, at the same time, ordered to take the buildings on 
the left of the road, and by the use of bars and picks, burrow 
through from house to house (as our gallant chief had done with 
so much success at Monterey, with the assistance of his brave 
Texans), and in like manner carry the right of the garita. While 
these orders were being executed, a mountain-howitzer was placed 
on the azotea of the church of San Cosme on the right, and 
another on a commanding building on the left. Having been sent 
to superintend the placing of the latter, I thought I discovered in 
the officer who had charge of it, a sprinkling of salt-water. In 
transporting his piece up the stair-way, in the peculiar method of 
handling his handspikes, and in the semi-nautical phrase, and 
pointed and energetic manner in which he delivered his orders, 
there was no mistaking the sailor. The gallant captain (Edwards 
of the Voltigeurs), had indeed, close-reefed to many a gale, as I 
found upon inquiry, out of the port of Norfolk, Ya. I was re- 
joiced to meet, as the reader may be sure, in so novel a place, as 
a housetop on the causeway of San Cosme, in the great valley of 
Mexico, a brother seaman, who had laid aside his marline-spike, 
and come " booted and spurred," as a "dashing voltigeur," to 
revel in the "Halls of the Montezumas." The gallant captain, 
though erst of the merchant service, handled his piece, and threw 
his shells with as much skill and ability, as if he had come fresh 
from the quarter-deck of a man-of-war. The howitzer on the 
church did equally brisk and effective work ; and while the sappers 
and miners were boring their way patiently, but surely, from house 
to house, toward the garita, numerous detached parties were car- 
rying on a brisk skirmish with the enemy, under such cover as 
could be found. At this period it became necessary to advance a 
piece of artillery, to the deserted breast-work before described, as 
situated about two hundred and fifty yards from the garita. As 
the road was continually swept by discharges from heavy guns, 
this was a most desperate undertaking ; but desperate as it was, 
it was accomplished in gallant style, by Lieutenant Hunt, of Dun- 



S48 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



can's battery. Watching his opportunity, and moving at full 
speed, he reached his position, and came muzzle to muzzle with 
the enemy, in less time than I have been describing the operation ; 
but in these few moments, he lost one killed and four wounded, 
out of nine men. The "borers" having at length worked their 
way to a convenient position, from which to make an assault upon 
the last stronghold of the enemy in our quarter, our men sprang, 
as if by magic, to the tops of the houses, into which they had 
thus quietly and unobservedly made their way, and to the utter sur- 
prise and consternation of the enemy, who was still busy with his 
guns at the gate, opened upon him within easy range, a most deadly 
fire of musketry. The effect was electric ; a single discharge, in 
which many of his gunners were killed as they had stood, with 
their rammers and sponges in hand, was sufficient to drive him in 
confusion from the breastwork, when a prolonged shout from our 
brave fellows, announced to their comrades below, that we were 
in possession of the garita of San Cosme, and already in the city 
of Mexico ! This occurred about sunset, on the evening of the 
13th of September, 1847. 

Thus we had, indeed, at length overcome, as General Scott had 
prematurely announced to his government, after the battle of 
Churubusco, "all difficulties — distance, climate, fortifications, 
ground and numbers." General Worth slept that night with his 
staff, and most of his division, a short distance within the city 
gate. There was nothing to prevent us from marching, whenever 
we chose, to the grand plaza, in the center of the city, and as we 
sank to rest, on our weary pillows, after the toils and dangers of 
the day, our feelings may be better imagined than described. A 
merciful Providence had conducted us, in safety, through many 
hard -fought battles to the ancient and renowned city of Mexico, 
and we had written a page in its annals, which will connect, in all 
time to come, the romantic and chivalrous deeds of Cortez, Al- 
varado, and Sandoval, with those of the glorious little army of 
our republic, under Scott, Worth, Quitman, Twiggs, Pillow, Smith, 
and other chiefs whose fame is as undying, and will be almost as 
romantic, a century or two hence, as that of their mail-clad pre- 
decessors. These latter came fresh from the battle-fields of Italy 
and Grenada, to gather still greener laurels in the then wonderful 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



349 



region of the new world, and to supplant a semi-civilization, which 
though but comparatively recent, had already become decrepit 
and corrupt, with the newer and more vivifying civilization of the 
cross ; and the former had come in their turn, not to sweep away, 
indeed, the civilization of the cross, but to revivify it, and infuse 
into it that spirit of progress which had well-nigh been crushed by 
the heel of despotism, under which it had writhed for three cen- 
turies. Both were the agents of an overruling and all-wise Pro- 
vidence, carrying out his inscrutable designs with regard to the 
destinies of mankind. 

Worth had fought his way to the city, over the celebrated 
causeway of Tacuba, by which Cortez had retreated on the memo- 
rable Nbche Triste. We had passed through the once populous 
quarter (now a mere suburb) of Tlaletolco, where according to 
Cortez and old Bernal Diaz, forty thousand people had been wont 
to "traffic in the market-place/' and we had identified, amid the 
whistling of balls and the shout of battle, the famous "leap of 
Alvarado." No wonder that we were agitated by strange and 
indescribable feelings, as we lay down to rest, that night ; waking, 
we were in a land of poetry and romance ; sleeping, in a land of 
dreams. 

I must not omit to notice here, a strange mistake, which occurs 
in the dispatch of the general-in-chief, while relating the events 
of this day to the government. It is as follows : "By eight o'clock 
in the evening, Worth had carried two batteries in the suburb. 
According to my instructions he here posted guards and sentinels, 
and placed his troops under shelter for the night. There was but 
one more obstacle — the San Cosme gate (custom-house) between 
him and the great square in front of the cathedral and palace — 
the heart of the city ; and that barrier, it was known, could not, 
by daylight, resist our siege -guns thirty minutes." I have 
already stated that we had carried the San Cosme gate, about 
sunset, and that we slept within the city, with no obstacle between 
us and the great plaza. The historian who should be guided by 
this dispatch, would naturally conclude, that while Quitman had 
effected a lodgment within the gate of Belen, and consequently 
within the city of Mexico, during the afternoon of the 13th, 
Worth, not having been able to do the same with regard to the 



350 



GENERAL SCOTT 8 CAMPAIGN 



gate of San Cosme, had encamped for the night outside of the 
gate, in order to await the return of daylight to enable him to 
bring into play his " siege-guns;" which was not the fact. When 
it is recollected that General Scott wrote with General Worth's 
report before him, in which the facts are distinctly stated as I 
have recorded them, the mistake shows a culpable want of care, 
in not consulting with proper diligence, the papers from which he 
was compiling his dispatch. He knew that the capital was the 
"goal of general ambition;" and when the question of taking it 
was concerned, it was certainly inexcusable, from any cause what- 
er, to give a wrong version of the affair. Not only was this in- 
justice done General Worth, in the historical relation of the facts 
given by the general-in-chief, but the former was halted by 
order of the latter at the Alameda, near the center of the city, 
which we had reached as early as six o'clock the next morning, 
in order that General Quitman might precede him to the grand 
plaza, and there have the honor of hoisting on the capital, the 
proud emblem of our nation — the glorious stripes and stars which 
we had borne in triumph from Vera Cruz. Next to our own 
chief, we, of the first division were delighted that this honor 
should fall upon Quitman, but we could not help remarking upon 
the apparent partiality of the act. Indeed General Scott seems 
to have been self-accused of this, and he has endeavored to excuse 
himself in his dispatch, as follows: "In this grateful service 
[hoisting our flag on the capital], Quitman might have been anti- 
cipated by Worth, but for my express orders, halting the latter at 
the head of the Alameda (a green park), within three squares of 
that goal of general ambition. The capital, however, was not 
taken by any one or two corps, but by the talent, the science, the 
gallantry, the prowess of this entire army." This was all very true, 
but it does not explain, why Worth should be turned bach, in order 
that Quitman might precede him. It would certainly have seemed 
but fair that Worth, having the ability to march to the grand 
plaza before Quitman, should have been permitted to do so ; and 
that he had this ability, will be apparent from the following brief 
statement of facts : 

The gate of Belen is a remote suburb of the city of Mexico, 
and Quitman, when he had entered it, found himself bearded, 



I>* THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



351 



not only by a formidable battery on the Paseo, but by the citadel, 
a heavy-armed work of large extent, which was not only sufficient 
(taken in front) to hold him, but the whole army in check. Nor 
did he advance a single step beyond this until after the surrender 
of the city. On the contrary, General Scott sent him reinforce- 
ments and intrenching tools, and he employed himself the whole 
night, in endeavoring to fortify himself in his position, and in con • 
structing new batteries to be opened upon the enemy in the 
morninof. And when the morning came, and a white flasf was 
hoisted on the citadel, as a token that the city had surrendered, 
the fact was so inexplicable to him, that he sent two members of 
his staff to inquire into the truth of the matter, before he would base 
any movement upon it. In the meantime, let us see how the sur- 
render was brought about by Worth. This officer says, in his 
dispatch: "The remainder of the division was now marched 
within the city gate [about twilight] and Captain Huger, of the 
ordnance, who had been directed by the general-in-chief to report 
to me with heavy guns sometime before, was desired to advance a 
twenty-four-pounder and a ten-inch mortar, place them in position at 
the garita, obtain the direction, and open a few shot and shell upon 
the grand plaza and palace, assumed to be sixteen hundred yards 
distant. This battery opened at nine o'clock — three shot being- 
fired from the gun, and five from the mortar. They told with 
admirable effect, as at one o'clock at night, a commission from 
the municipality came to my advanced post, announcing that im- 
mediately after the heavy guns opened, the government and army 
commenced evacuating the city, and that the commission was 
deputed to confer with the general-in-chief, to whose head- 
quarters it was passed, under Asst. Adjt. Gen. Mackall. At five 
o'clock, a. m., on the 14th, my troops and heavy guns advanced 
into the city, and occupied the Alameda, to the point where it 
fronts the palace, and there halted at six o'clock ; the general-in- 
chief having instructed me to take a position, and await his 
further orders." It thus appears, that while Quitman was forti- 
fying himself in the Belen gate, unable to advance a foot, Worth 
had opened upon the plaza and palace, and caused the evacuation 
and surrender of the city; was at liberty at any moment to advance 
and occupy it ; and that he did, in fact, advance and occupy it, 



352 



GENERAL SCOTT 's CAMPAIGN 



before any other corps of the army could do so. If, as General 
Scott declared, " In the glorious conquest all had contributed — 
early and powerfully — the killed, the wounded, and the fit for 
duty — at Yera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, San Antonio, Chu- 
rubusco (three battles) the Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec — as 
much as those who fought at the gates of Belen and San Cosine," 
why was one officer turned back, in order to give precedence to 
another ? Nay, more, why was the officer, who was turned back, 
the very one who had opened the way for the others to enter? 

Our troops, to the number of about six thousand, entered the 
great city of Mexico in the undress uniforms, in which they had 
marched so many weary miles and fought so many desperate battles. 
To behold so novel a spectacle, the various streets poured forth 
their thousands of spectators, and the balconies and house-tops 
were filled beside, with a gay and picturesque throng. So dense 
was the crowd, that it was frequently necessary to halt until the 
pressure was removed. The Calle de Plateros, through which we 
marched to the grand plaza, is the street in which all the prin- 
cipal shops are found ; and although these were closed, the gay 
curtains that fluttered from the balconies above ; the numerous 
streamers and flags that were hung out (almost every house had 
prepared and hung out a neutral flag, as English, French, 
Spanish, etc., as a means of protection), and the fashionably- 
dressed women, who showed themselves without the least reserve 
at doorways and windows, gave one the idea rather of a grand 
national festival, than of the entry of a conquering army into an 
enemy's capital. 

General Scott, arrayed in his full uniform, and surrounded by 
his numerous staff, dressed in like manner, the whole presenting 
a very imposing and military -looking cavalcade, was escorted by 
Harney's dragoons to the national palace. He had scarcely 
reached this point, however, before a change came over the scene. 
A miscreant fired from a house-top among a group of officers of 
Worth's division, and seriously wounded Colonel Garland. Other 
reports of small arms were heard simultaneously, in various other 
directions, and it soon became evident that there was a fermenta- 
tion among the populace, and that our work had, as yet, been but 
partially done. We were but six thousand, all told, and were in 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



353 



the midst of a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants ! There 
were apparently men enough in the streets, to have crushed us 
with the paving-stones, if they had possessed but a tithe of the 
patriotism or valor, which had inspired their noble ancestors at 
the siege of Saragossa, under the brave Palafox. But this was no 
patriotic uprising of a great and indignant people, in defense of 
their firesides. Alas, for poor Mexico 1 the people (as the reader 
has had abundant evidence in almost every page of these Me- 
moirs) were a dead and unleavened mass, as incapable of the 
sentiment of patriotism, as of the other nobler virtues. Still our 
position was somewhat critical. We were exposed in the midst 
of streets, that were flanked on either side by massive stone 
houses (some of them three and four stories high), with flat roofs 
and parapets, answering all the purposes of fortifications, and 
unless energetic measures were adopted, we might lose many 
valuable lives before the insurrection could be quelled. In a 
moment, therefore, everything was in motion. The quick move- 
ment of troops in various directions, the rattling of artillery at 
full speed through the streets, the galloping hither and thither of 
aids and orderlies, the shrieks of the women as they disappeared 
in haste from the balconies, and the firing from the house-tops, 
which increased every moment, indicated that more blood was 
about to flow, and that we could not as yet sit ourselves down 
quietly in the city of Mexico. 

Worth immediately placed his howitzers and Duncan's battery 
in position to command the several streets, whence the firing pro- 
ceeded in his quarter, and detached skirmishing parties in various 
directions, with orders to make their way into the houses, take 
positions similar to those of the enemy — pursuing him wherever 
practicable — and shoot down every man who should be found 
skulking on a house-top, or screened by a window, with arms in 
his hand. Similar measures were taken by other corps, and very 
soon, a sort of running skirmish ensued in various parts of the 
city. Some of the enemy becoming so bold as to show themselves 
in the streets, the artillery was opened upon these, and they were 
swept with grape and canister. Isow and then a house, which 
had been taken possession of by our assailants, was battered with 
a round-shot. But the artillery fire was continued no longer than 
30 



354 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



was necessary to clear the streets ; as we were unwilling to do 
more damage to property, than the case absolutely required, or 
to involve the innocent in the fate of the guilty. An animated 
skirmish was kept up with small arms, however, until night put 
an end to the contest. Worth now posted his division in the Ala- 
meda, and established his head-quarters in a commodious and 
handsomely-furnished house, belonging to Pena y Pena, after- 
ward president of the republic, fronting this most beautiful of the 
parks of Mexico. 

The uprising, which had at first appeared to us an insurrection 
of the people, proved to be nothing more than the ill-concerted 
action of some three thousand prisoners, whom Santa Anna had 
released, the night before, from their confinement in the several 
jails of the city. These villains, in the interval between the 
departure of their patron and our entry into the city, had already 
begun to rob the public offices, and commit other depredations, 
and had opened their fire upon us, for the sole purpose of con- 
tinuing a disorder, amid which they might plunder their unfortu- 
nate countrymen. The municipal government, and the better 
order of citizens, seeing that no good could result from this 
species of warfare, at once arrayed themselves on our side, and 
exerted all their influence to suppress it. The firing, nevertheless, 
continued through the greater part of the next day, our men fol- 
lowing the vagabonds up so closely, as to kill great numbers of 
them. This matter of being killed was not (to use a Hibernicism) 
what they had been accustomed to. In their numerous civil 
broils, they had been in the habit of firing at each other from 
behind walls and parapets, at a safe distance, and the government of 
Mexico has been known to change hands after a bloody revolution, 
in which no more than half a dozen leperos have lost their worth- 
less lives. But when, instead of being fired at from a like safe 
distance, by our troops, they were followed up, and shot down in 
their hiding-places, why, this was another affair. They soon 
succumbed, and order was restored to the city after the lapse of 
a day or two. 

General Scott, having established, in concert with the munici- 
pality, a rigid police, the citizens resumed confidence, reopened 
their shops, and went about their usual avocations. Xotwith- 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



355 



standing the best exertions of all parties, however, a dastardly 
system of assassination, which threatened to decimate our num- 
bers, was continued for ten days and more after our entry. 
Although the most stringent orders were given by the various 
generals of division, to prevent their men from straggling, some 
few would find their way out after night-fall, and being decoyed 
by women, or made drunk in the low groggeries, were invariably 
murdered, sometimes to the number of fifteen or twenty in a 
single night ! 

General Quitman was appointed civil and military governor ; and 
administering the duties of his office with firmness and ability, 
the city of Mexico, from having been the hot-bed of faction and 
turbulence, for so many years, very soon became a thrifty mart of 
commerce, and a well-ordered and peaceful capital. Citizens, 
who had run away from us in alarm, returned to find their per- 
sons and property respected, and to compare, much to our advan- 
tage, the present with the former government. 

One of the most pleasing features of this campaign, was the 
good order and high state of discipline, in which our troops en- 
tered this rich and populous city. Although we had carried it 
by assault, and were entitled, in consequence, according to the 
barbarous practices of European warfare, to disgrace ourselves 
by sack and rape, no one thought of such things — the common 
soldier no more than his officer. With the exception of some 
thieving that was carried on, on a small scale, in our rear, by the 
" outsiders " (these were civilian followers of the army, who hov- 
ered around us, like greedy cormorants, and whom it was found 
impossible to get rid of), the utmost respect was paid to both person 
and property. An example of which General Scott may well be 
proud, and which we may hold up, triumphantly, to our neigh- 
bors over the water, who make so many more pretensions to civ- 
ilization than ourselves, and who still regard us as comparatively 
barbarian. Indeed, in whatever light we regard this campaign, 
it is one of the most wonderful on record. It is not wonderful 
that we triumphed over Mexico. This was to have been expected 
from her physical, and still more from her moral weakness. But 
like the knights of old, we seemed to have scorned to avail 



356 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



ourselves of the weakness of our enemy ; nay, more, we invited 
him to combat on terms highly advantageous to himself. With the 
single exception of Cerro Gordo, we had constantly met him with 
inferior numbers (sometimes in the proportion of one to four, as 
at Molino del Rey), and he had always had the advantage of us 
in position. We had beaten him signally, and fatally in every 
contest, from the time of our landing at Yera Cruz, to our entry 
into the city of Mexico. The small scale on which our war with 
Mexico was conducted, prevents this famous campaign from tak- 
ing rank, in point of numbers, with those gigantic military ope- 
rations of Europe, which from time to time have absorbed the 
attention of nations ; but in this respect alone. Tested by any 
other standard, it will compare favorably with any one of them. 
In marches, in successful strategy, in hard fighting, and in its 
decisive results, it may be placed side by side with any of Xapo- 
leon's Italian campaigns, and gain, rather than lose, by the com- 
parison. With a mean force of ten thousand men, we landed in 
the season of tempests, on a coast where pestilence annually 
sweeps off its thousands, and marched through a nation of eight 
millions of people, triumphantly to its capital, a distance of two 
hundred and fifty miles. This march, too, was performed, for 
the most part, in a mountainous region, so strongly fortified by 
nature, that the Spanish government, and after it, the Mexican, 
never dreamed of the possibility of its being invaded, or so much 
as thought of the necessity of constructing a single defensive 
work, with a view to such a result, until the heads of our columns 
already began to show themselves on the steps of the mountains. 
That errors were committed in the course of this campaign, it is 
useless to deny ; but the human mind is fallible, and in what cam- 
paign have not errors abounded ? These errors, too, served but to 
bring forth into bolder relief, the indomitable courage and the 
self-reliance of the American soldier. Hard -fought battles 
promptly rectified mistakes, and with diminished numbers we 
performed those prodigies, which would otherwise have been 
performed by our whole force, with diminished glory. But I 
have already wearied the reader, I fear, by the endless details 
of march and battle through which he has followed me. Let me 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



857 



bring my narrative to a close, and leave him to pronounce upon 
the campaign his own eulogy, as he may see this written in the 
facts and results. 

General Santa Anna, on the night of the 13th, when Worth's 
shells began to burst over his head in .he national palace, and to 
threaten Mexico, as its terrified inhabitants believed, with the fate 
of Vera Cruz, retreated with the fragment of his aruny (great 
numbers deserting him, and dressing themselves in citizens' cloth- 
ing, mixing with the people, in a manner to escape detection) to 
Guadalupe Hidalgo. He retired in such haste, as to leave behind 
him, in the public offices, much valuable correspondence relating 
to the movements of his army, forty pieces of artillery, and large 
quantities of ammunition. His lady, who had been in the habit of 
accompanying him in his campaigns, was consigned to the care 
of that " intelligent neutral," and intimate friend of his, the Brit- 
ish consul, of armistice memory. With a gallantry becoming the 
leader of an American army, General Scott, at the request of this 
gentleman, detailed an escort of dragoons, after quiet had been 
restored in the city, to conduct her to the arms of her husband. 

On the 16th of September, the latter resigned the presidency 
(which, indeed, he had previously forfeited, by putting himself 
at the head of the army, in August, without the consent of con- 
gress), and nominated Pena y Pena to succeed him; appointing 
as adjuncts, General Herrera and Senor Alcorta. The whole of 
this proceeding was irregular. By the Mexican constitution, the 
resignation of the president must be accepted by congress, to be 
complete ; but there being no congress in session, the fallen chief 
dispensed with this formality, by accepting his own resignation. 
His nomination of Pena y Pena was supererogatory, as this gen- 
tleman, being chief justice of the supreme court, became ex officio 
president, upon the occurrence of a vacancy, until congress could 
elect a president, ad interim, for the remainder of the term ; and 
his appointment of adjuncts was altogether illegal, as this ap- 
pointment is required, by the constitution, to be made by the ex- 
ecutive council ; which, like the congress, was not in session. Pena 
y Pena, upon being duly notified of these events, assumed the 
office of president, but refused to acknowledge the legality of the 
appointment of Herrera and Alcorta, as his adjuncts. He 



358 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



proceeded (being in retirement on his estate of Canaleja) to Quere- 
taro a few days afterward, called the congress together, and 
directing General Santa Anna to turn over the command of the 
army to a successor, whom he named, placed this chief in arrest, 
until a court-martial could be convened for his trial, for the loss 
of the several battles in which he had been beaten, and for his 
conduct generally in the war. Santa Anna (who in the mean- 
time had marched with a small force upon Puebla, to try his for- 
tune against Colonel Childs, who had been left in command at 
that place and by whom he was beaten as effectually as he had 
been by General Scott), seeing the turn things had taken, made 
a desperate effort to regain his power. He declared that his 
resignation was invalid, and insisted upon being permitted to 
resume the reins of government ; vaunted of his exploits in the 
war, and sent his friend Rejon (who, as the reader recollects, pro- 
mised to die by his side in the city of Mexico) and other faction- 
ists to Queretaro, to keep alive the war spirit, and intrigue for his 
restoration to the presidency. But it was all to no purpose, the 
people had become tired of him. With much justice, they traced 
to him, and to similar military patriots, all the evils which had be- 
fallen their unhappy country — the long series of domestic broils 
and misgovernment which had preceded the war, and which had 
so corrupted and depraved the great mass of the population, as 
to render patriotism a by-word, and honor a jest. They saw that 
he, and such men as he, who, arrayed in gorgeous uniforms, had 
trampled under foot the civil power, and governed the country 
as they would a camp ; who boasted of their courage and their 
skill, and of their ability to march to the Sabine, and wrest 
Texas boldly from our embrace ; were as craven on the battle- 
field, as they had been valiant in the oppression of their fellow- 
citizens. The more intelligent asked very pertinently, where is 
that army which has battened on us, for so many years, and 
which, when the war was being developed, promised to stand by 
us in the hour of need ? Gone ! routed and destroyed, by a 
handful of valiant men, whom it ought to have crushed by its 
numbers alone ! And such will always be the case under similar 
circumstances. We have only beheld in Mexico, in our day, the 
same drama which was performed in Italy and the east, fifteen 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



359 



hundred years ago. We have but seen a decrepit and corrupt 
people overthrown by a more virtuous and vigorous race from the 
north ; the only difference being in the comparative civilization of 
the two conquering nations. Venality and the corruption of manners 
have been as rife in the city of Mexico, as they were in Rome and 
Constantinople, when the empire of the Caesars was wont to be put 
up at public auction, by the Pretorian bands of these respective 
capitals. Courage in civilized man is a noble attribute, based 
upon virtue alone. Corrupt the individual, and you remove from 
him all those high incentives to honor and patriotism, which are 
the only sure guarantees of the safety of states. Mexico, unfor- 
tunately, lost sight of this fundamental truth, when she got up her 
ill-advised quarrel with us, on the subject of Texas. She still 
spoke the language of a chivalrous and virtuous people ; but this 
language was mere form, the substance had long since departed. 

Santa Anna finding it, thus impossible, to set on foot another 
revolution, and being abandoned by his followers, who, in the 
language of politicians, found him no longer " available," made 
his way to the small port of Antigua, near Vera Cruz, and aban- 
doned his country to that fate, which he had, himself, in a great 
measure, prepared for her. 

Better counsels began now to prevail. Although there was still 
much senseless opposition to peace, this opposition was gradually 
overcome by the influence of such men as Herrera, Pena y Pena, 
and other intelligent and true patriots, who had no military aspi- 
rations to be gratified by a continuance of the war. The " ele- 
ments of peace," which General Scott and Mr. Trist had been so 
fearful of dispersing, by beating the enemy too much, began now 
rapidly to assemble at Queretaro. On the 11th of November, 
General Anaya (whom we had made prisoner at Churubusco), 
was elected president ad interim, to serve the remainder of Santa 
Anna's term. In the following December, the congress which had 
been called by Pena y Pena, adjourned (the terms of its members 
having expired), after a good deal of angry discussion, on the all- 
absorbing topics of peace and war. A new congress was elected, 
and having met in better temper than the last, the great question 
of peace was forthwith taken in hand. Anaya's fragment of a 
term expiring before a new election could be made, Pena y Pena 



360 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



returned to the executive chair, and it was under his auspices 
that the peace was finally concluded. Our government, with that 
forbearance which had characterized it during the whole course 
of the war, made no new demands upon our prostrate enemy, but 
was content to accept the same terms, it had proposed to him, 
after the battle of Churubusco. These terms were now agreed 
to without hesitation, and early in February, 1848, not quite two 
years after the breaking out of the war, a treaty of peace was 
definitively signed by Mr. Trist and the Mexican plenipotentiaries, 
Messrs. Couto, Atristain, and Cuevas. 

I have thus brought my memoirs of " Service Afloat and 
Ashore, during the Mexican War," to a close ; and it only remains 
for me, before taking leave of the reader, to cast a hastv glance 
at some of the results of this contest, both as they affect our late 
enemy and ourselves. And first, as to our losses. These may 
be stated (in round numbers) at twenty thousand men; some fifteen 
thousand of whom perished in campaign, by a violent death, or by 
the hand of disease ; the remaining five thousand perishing in the 
two squadrons, in the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Pacific coast, 
and in going to and returning from the theater of war. General 
Scott lost two thousand seven hundred men, in his campaign of 
the Valley of Mexico. I have more than once asserted, that in 
this campaign, General Worth bore the principal part, and fought 
most of the battles, the other divisions being mere accessories. 
Let us see how this statement is borne out by the figures of arith- 
metic, which, after all, are worth more, in our search after facts, 
than figures of speech. At Churubusco (including San Antonio ), 
he lost three hundred and forty-six men ; at Molino del Rev, he- 
lost seven hundred and eighty-seven, and at Chapultepec, and the 
gate of San Cosme, he lost one hundred and thirty-seren ; making 
a total of one thousand two hundred and seventy, or very nearly 
one-half of the whole loss ! There were four divisions, a brigade 
of cavalry, a corps of engineers (with a company of sappers and 
miners), and a corps of ordnance, with ordnance men attached. 
The division which sustained the next greatest loss, was that of 
Quitman (to which General Shields was attached). Its loss was 
five hundred and forty-eight, not one-half that of Worth ! 

The expenses of the war may be stated at about one hundred 



in the Valley oe Mexico. 



S61 



and twenty millions of dollars, including the fifteen millions paid 
for New Mexico and California, I leave to small politicians the 
task of counterpoising and comparing this outlay, with the neces- 
sity we were under of chastising an insolent foe, and with the 
gains which we have made in territory. I have no talent for per 
contra sheets of this kind. But in a political and commercial 
point; of view, no man can yet estimate the great advantages 
which are to accrue, both to Mexico and ourselves, from this war. 
In my opinion, the salvation of our institutions depends, in a great 
degree, upon a reasonable extension of our limits. This is the 
only thing which will rob faction of its bitterness, if it does not 
entirely destroy it. Fanaticism, whether religious, political or 
social, is always local ; it never spreads, unless, indeed, it be 
spread as the great Arabian enthusiast spread his faith, by the 
sword. And the reason why it does not spread is, that it is error ; 
and error, although it may be contagious in small districts, like 
the plague, can never inundate a vast country. Of what compara- 
tive importance is it at the present day, when our immense terri- 
tory extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, that a meeting 
to denounce a law of the Union, or for any other disloyal and 
treasonable purpose, is held in Faneuil Hall, in the good city of 
Boston. The little actors on this little stage may make themselves • 
as ridiculous as they please, but the President, of this great repub- 
lic will quietly point them to the map, to remind them that the 
Massachusetts of the old thirteen, is not the Massachusetts of 
thirty — forty — fifty — a hundred states ! And that she is as pow- 
erless now for evil, as she was formerly powerful for good. The 
federal officers, armed with a jjosse comitatus, if need be, from 
the Pacific, will disperse her mobs, however composed, and exe- 
cute the process which represents the majesty of twenty — thirty — 
forty — fifty millions of people ! As our territorial limits increase, 
the individual states will become less and less important, and 
local jealousies and heart-burnings will scarcely produce more 
effect upon the nation at large, than does the gossiping of a re- 
mote village upon a metropolitan city. Shay's rebellion in Massa- 
chusetts, and the whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania, threw the 
whole country into commotion, and caused the Executive much 
anxiety, and a good deal of trouble before they could be quelled 
31 



362 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 

We should regard these things, at the present day, as mere " tem- 
pests in a tea-pot." And where is the solution for this? In the 
fact that then St. Mary's, in Georgia, was our southern boundary, 
whereas now, our flag floats proudly on the shores of the bound- 
less Pacific ! The diversity of climates, productions and pursuits 
will be so many additional motives for adhesion, making us, com- 
paratively, more dependent upon each other, and binding us to- 
gether, in one great free-trade's union. While these great ends 
are accomplished, each state will be as independent in all local 
concerns as before, and except in a few prescribed particulars, will 
be, to all intents and purposes, sovereign. It is this peculiarity 
of our system, which (as I have before remarked in these pages), 
befits it for extension almost ad infinitum, in contradistinction to 
central and consolidated governments. As for commerce, it is 
only necessary to remark that our Pacific front opens to us, and 
will enable us to monopolize, almost all the commerce of the East 
Indies, and of the west coast of America, north and south. This 
will make us the carriers and the factors of the world. Twenty 
years hence, and it will no longer be Britannia, but America 
M rules the waves." But it would require a volume to enumerate 
all the advantages which have accrued and are yet to accrue to 
us, from the Mexican war. Let us turn from so gigantic a theme, 
therefore, to contemplate, for a moment, its probable effect; upon 
our late enemy. 

We have seen, in the opening pages of these memoirs, the for- 
lorn condition at which Mexico had arrived immediately preceding 
the war. We saw her society composed of various heterogeneous 
elements, struggling the one against the other, her commerce 
nearly destroyed, and her agricultural and mining interests at the 
lowest possible state of depression. In the course of two years 
(from 1844 to 1846), Santa Anna, Herrera, and Paredes were 
each hurled from the chief executive chair, by revolutions which 
agitated the country from one extreme to the other, and threat- 
ened a total dissolution of all government. Many of her states- 
men of respectable abilities began to despair altogether of the 
success of republican institutions, and to turn their eyes upon the 
monarchies of Europe, as their only resource to guard them from 
the anarchy which impended. It is well known, that under the 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



863 



presidency of Paredes (a dissolute military chieftain), an avowed 
monarchical party was established, which boldly set up an organ 
in the capital (El Tiempo), and disseminated thence its princi- 
ples through all parts of the country, with an ability and zeal 
which drew over to it many of the less thinking portion of the 
people. Strange as it may appear, the project was seriously en- 
tertained of calling over one of the Bourbon princes, probably 
the Due d'Aumale, or the Prince de Joinville, to wield the scepter 
of Iturbide. Fortunately for the country, the war with ourselves 
broke out, and put an end to all these disorders. The pressure from 
without produced a more or less perfect union among the parties 
within. Paredes was banished, Santa Anna recalled from ban- 
ishment, and republican Mexico, recoiling from the monarchical 
extreme toward which she was fast verging, made one more effort 
to save herself, by adopting her old federal constitution, which 
some years previously, had given place to centralism. Pre- 
vious to the war, Mexico, the most ill-governed and one of the 
most ignorant of the American republics, thought herself the 
wisest and one of the most powerful and chivalrous nations of the 
earth ! Her state-papers bore the tone of arrogance, and some- 
times of insolence toward foreign powers (as the reader has, more 
than once seen, in the course of these pages) ; her legislation was 
exclusive and offensive, and her boast of "marching to the Sa- 
bine " was no fantastical, unmeaning threat, but sober earnest— the 
bastard descendants of Gonsalvo de Cordova and Cortez believ- 
ing in their ability to perform it. These illusions were all very 
natural ; the Mexican people inhabiting, as the mass of them did, 
vast inland plains, isolated from intercourse with the rest of the 
world by stupendous ranges of mountains, and by the Chinese 
policy which they had inherited from their peninsular ancestors. 
It was absolutely necessary to their future progress that these 
illusions should be dispelled ; and this was effectually done by the 
war. They were brought by this event, into rude and rough 
contact with a people whom they had been taught to despise, but 
whom they soon found superior to them, in civilization and the 
arts, as well as arms. The moral shock has been eminently bene- 
ficial to them. They have been taught, anew, to admire our insti- 
tutions, to wonder at our unexampled progress, and to inquire 



364 



GENERAL SCOTT* S CAMPAIGN 



into its causes. I believe that there is not now a monarchist 
in Mexico ! It remains to be seen, whether they will be able to 
imitate us successfully. If they do, it will, perhaps, prolong their 
political existence a century ; no longer, as that man is blind who 
does not read, in what is passing around him, the inevitable de- 
crees of fate. It is impossible to place two people, of such widely 
differing constitutions and temperaments, in juxtaposition with 
each other, without one of them being absorbed by the other. — 
But this absorption need not be violent ; nor need it be a cause 
of alarm on the part of the Mexican people, as ours is not a great 
central government, which, in imitation of Rome, will send a pro- 
consul to govern them, and a quaestor to deplete them, but a fede- 
ral republic, like their own, into which ail those who enter are 
equals. The only difference to Mexico will be, that instead of 
occupying a subordinate station in the family of nations, she will 
be entitled to be inscribed in the foremost rank. In the mean- 
time, if she profit by the lessons of the war, she will set herself 
diligently to work to prepare for the great change which awaits her. 
While the Sibyl is spinning the web of her fate, she should civilize 
and educate herself, to render herself the more worthy of the em- 
brace of the young bridegroom to whom she is affianced. 

The great mistake which Mexico has hitherto made, with regard 
to her policy, is the manner in which she has treated her Indian 
population. To this she owes most of her weakness. The Indians 
found in that country, at the time of the conquest, were not like 
our own. They were not ferocious and untamable savages, who 
disappeared upon the approach of civilization, like the frost be- 
fore the sun, as did the natives of North America, but a docile and 
comparatively civilized people. As they could not be got rid of, the 
only other course open, was to educate and elevate them to the rank 
of citizens ; not to that nominal rank which they do, indeed, enjoy, 
but to that real rank which springs out of, and finds its sustenance 
in, social equality. Nature has interposed no barrier to this, by 
planting an unconquerable antipathy in the breast of one of the 
races, to the other, as she has done in regard to the white man 
and the negro ; and if the amalgamation be encouraged bv the 
proper laws, in the course of three or four generations it will 
become complete. It is questionable, in my mind, too, whether 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



385 



there would be any adulteration in this process ; as I regard the 
Indian, in most parts of Mexico, as, physically, the superior of the 
compound of the Celt and the Moor, which is there denominated 
the white man. But whether this be palatable or not, it is the 
only alternative ; for it is idle to suppose that the population of 
any country can live together in harmony and prosperity, when it 
is divided into two distinct classes, equal in the eye of the law, but 
unequal in everything else — particularly in a social point of view. 
The two classes must either mix, or one will govern the other. — 
The latter has always been, and still is, as the reader has seen, 
the case in Mexico ; five-sixths of the eight millions of that coun- 
try being either in peon servitude, or in a worse condition. How 
could Mexico be strong, in her contest with us, with but one-sixth 
of her population governing and overriding the rest, and leading 
it, like so many ignorant and besotted slaves, to the battle-field? 

The army, that great incubus of Mexico, which has weighed 
down her energies for so many years, has, it is hoped, received 
its death-wound in this war. The military feeling of the country 
has not been destroyed, however, it has only received a salutary 
check. It has been too deeply rooted to be so summarily disposed 
of. The fondness for military titles (the title of colonel carrying 
with it the prefix of " excellency") and for the trappings and 
tinsel of a uniform, has amounted to a perfect passion with the 
Mexican people ; and they have been in the habit of making the 
greatest sacrifices to enrol themselves as military men. In the 
smallest villages, perched like eyries on the mountain peaks of the 
Andes, one beholds the ludicrous mixture of military affairs with the 
every-day occurrences of life ; not unfrequently a colonel of the mi- 
lido activa— active militia — may be seen, with his uniform on, ar- 
ranging the bunches of garlic in his shop, or selling a bundle oipuros 
to a chance customer. This fondness for titles, and for the glare 
and ornament of official dress, always accompanies the early stages, 
as well as the decay of civilization ; and one scarcely knows to 
which of these causes to attribute it in Mexico, in which are seen 
so many of the features of 'both conditions of society. Even, 
since the war, we have seen these people elevating a military 
chieftain (Arista) to the chief magistracy; which is certainly a bad 
augury for the future prosperity of the country, especially whea 



366 



GENERAL SCOTT'S CAMPAIGN 



it is recollected that this chief is one of the old revolutionists — he 
having headed, with General Duran, some years ago, the revolu- 
tion entitled "la revolution de la religion y cle las leyes" — the 
revolution of religion and the laws. In the best organized coun- 
tries, military men will carry with them into the executive chair, 
the habits of command which they have contracted in the camp. 
Even in our own country, we have had more than one example 
of the difficulty with which the despotic will of a military chieftain 
is confined within the pale of the constitution and the laws. In 
Mexico, military men, to the entire seclusion of civilians, have 
tyrannized over the country for a generation, without the least 
restraint. What has been, will be again. It is absolutely neces- 
sary, therefore, for the Mexican people, if they wish to establish 
the supremacy of the laws, to throw all these military men over- 
board; let them belong to what school they may. They are all 
dangerous, for the reason that they are military men, if for no 
oilier ; their habits, their love of power, their education, all unfit 
them for the discharge of civil duties. And then, it is humiliat- 
ing in the last degree, that in the midst of the civilization of the 
nineteenth century, when the profession of arms has sunk to that 
subordinate condition, in which it should always remain in well 
organized states, that a people, by dint of party-organization and 
faction, should be denied the privilege of selecting their rulers 
from among the great statesmen of the country, and compelled to 
put up instead, with the talents of third and fourth-rate men, 
merely because these possess that sort of ad cajjiandum j^'^stiye 
which appeals to the more barbarous parts of our nature ! If the 
military were merely a class in Mexico, perhaps it would not 
be so difficult to get rid of it, but unfortunately it has its roots so 
deep in the hearts of all classes, that it cannot be torn out without 
great convulsions. The soldier represents all parties, and is, by 
turns, identified with them all. He foments and keeps alive civil 
commotions, but he does not alone produce them. He is the 
exponent of the church, of the agricultural interest, of the manu- 
facturing interest, of centralism, of federalism, in fine, of every- 
thing. Without him commotions may not entirely cease, but with 
him they will be sure to continue. The first step, therefore, is to 
get rid of him. And now is the most opportune moment, when 



IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 



367 



he has lost most of the prestige which he possessed previous to 
the war. The army once removed, by a slow and gradual process 
(as by permitting the turbulent old chiefs to retain their commis- 
sions on half pay, and not filling vacancies, as they are removed 
by death), the elements of society which remain, will have a 
better opportunity of coalescing. These elements, as yet, are 
many and discordant, but the discord, which exists among them, 
is a discord of details, and not of principles. All men are agreed 
as to the fundamental form of government ; and surely matters 
of mere policy may be discussed and arranged, without the gov- 
ernment's being rent in pieces by the discussion. In the thirty 
years of convulsions which have ensued, since the declaration of 
Mexican independence, many of the sharp points of party have 
already worn off, and much experience in the art of government 
has been gained. Let us, therefore, hope that a new era will 
arise in Mexico, and that she will profit by the lessons of expe- 
rience she has already received, and particularly by the last and 
terrible lesson of the war. Respect is the first step toward a last- 
ing friendship ; our turbulent and proud sister has been taught to 
respect us, and I have but little doubt, that henceforth, she will 
cultivate with us the most friendly relations. The next genera- 
tion of Mexicans may have cause to look back with satisfaction 
upon the struggle of their country with the United States, as the 
starting point whence a new impetus was given her, in that great 
race of civilization, which is to fit her for her ultimate incorpora- 
tion into the Anglo-American family. 



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"ROBERT ROSMAN, M. D., 

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76 State St., Brooklyn. 



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NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

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SCENES AND LEGENDS OF THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND. 
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